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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



SPECIAL METHOD IN 
LANGUAGE 



£&v& 



SPECIAL METHOD IN 
LANGUAGE 

IN THE EIGHT GRADES 



BY 

CHARLES A. McMURRY, Ph.D. 



Nefo fork 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1905 

All rights re sewed 









UBRAHY of aONQRtSS 
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JUN 28 1 90S 



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Copyright, 1905, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1905. 



PREFACE 

This small volume is designed for elementary 
teachers, and aims to give a broad and simple treat- 
ment of the language problem below the high school. 
Owing to the enrichment of the course of study with 
literature, nature study, and history, the conditions 
are now favorable in many schools for the steady 
growth of accuracy and fulness of expression in the 
mother tongue. 

Language exercises should not stand apart, but 
should be linked closely to all the other exercises of 
the school. 

Besides the general discussion of aim and method, 
a complete course of study is laid out and a chapter 
of illustrative lessons is given. 

The last chapter contains also reference lists, for 
the use of teachers, of verbs, homonyms, abbrevia- 
tions, rules of spelling, etc. The correction of com- 
mon errors of speech is also systematically carried 
out. 

This is the seventh volume of the series of Special 
Methods, the whole series running as follows : Spe- 
cial Method in the Reading of English Classics, in 
Primary Reading, in Geography, in History, in Ele- 
mentary Science, in Arithmetic, and in Language. 

A further volume on the Manual Arts is in prepa- 
ration. 

CHARLES A. McMURRY. 
Winter Park, Florida, 

May 2, 1905. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Value and Purpose of Language Study . i 

II. Relation of Language to Other Studies . 10 

III. Economy in Language Exercises ... 24 

IV. Method in Language Lessons .... 34 
V. Function of the Teacher in Language . 88 

VI. Language Books and Grammars ... 93 

VII. Illustrative Lessons 101 

VIII. Course of Study 140 

IX. Reference Materials 174 



Vll 



SPECIAL METHOD IN 
LANGUAGE 

CHAPTER I 
Value and Purpose of Language Study 

There is an important sense in which all studies 
centre in language. They all contribute to the 
enrichment and mastery of language, and in turn 
language study proper strengthens a child's power 
in every study. There is no other subject which so 
thoroughly permeates all studies and identifies itself 
with them as language. 

This is seen in the close connection between 
thought and language. From early infancy words 
and thoughts are so closely combined in a child's ' 
mind that he does not discriminate at first between 
an object and its name. Thus from the first, words 
become so intimate with thoughts that throughout 
life the two are inseparable companions. This omni- 
presence of language in all studies, in vital relation 



2 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

to underlying thought, gives it a commanding posi- 
tion in education. Even scientific logic finds in 
language its forms and its instruments. 

" One common fault in our present practice is due 
to the failure to see that thought and language are 
twin products, and that we must deal with both in 
order to deal effectively with either. We speak, for 
example, of working for a vocabulary, without recog- 
nizing that the accumulation of a vocabulary implies 
growth of thought, the development of cognition. 
1 The growth of mind,' as Professor Laurie says, 
1 and the growth of language in the mind go together. 
There has to be organized in the boy the language 
of his inner life, so that the language may grow with 
the life, and the life with the language.' ' (Chubb.) 

In the history of school courses we find language 
usurping a supreme place and for centuries holding 
the headship against all competition, and even at the 
present time the classic languages have not given up 
their leadership, and modern languages have gained 
as much as the ancient tongues have lost. 

So far as the common school is concerned the 
mother-tongue has become the one universal medium 
of thought and in that sense the foundation of the 
school course. It has taken more than three cen- 



VALUE AND PURPOSE OF LANGUAGE STUDY 3 

turies of steady progress to bring educators to this 
point of view, but now the mother-tongue is substan- 
tially received by all as the basis of communication 
for all purposes. This result has brought us to the 
point where our schools can well afford to make 
the English language the most polished instrument 
of culture we have. It is the creation of one of the 
most vigorous and remarkable races, or mingling 
of races, in the world's history. Thousands of years 
of history and the fertile minds of generations of 
master thinkers and writers have shaped it, and 
loaded it with varied significance. There is a deep 
sense in which our language is the achievement of 
the race, and as a child appropriates it and reaches 
back into its meanings he is digging into an inex- 
haustible treasure whose veins grow richer as he 
deepens them. 

The significant place of language in education is 
suggested by the fact that a man's speech betrayeth 
him. The language which a man uses during five 
minutes of conversation will open a deep insight 
into his whole history and bringing up. His family, 
school, and life associations are blazoned in his 
speech, though he may be making no effort to be- 
tray them, yea, even though he try to conceal them. 



4 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

There is probably no means by which an expe- 
rienced person can so quickly take the measure of a 
man as by his language. All the elements of educa- 
tion have combined in this to give a sum-total which, 
as a gauge of character, is near the truth. 

It is also noteworthy that it is on the ground of our 
common English speech that we cherish the hope 
of unifying into one people the diverse populations 
that have come to the United States from all parts of 
Europe and of the world. The primary schools in 
cities with many foreign populations are working 
directly at this problem, and in spite of difficulties, 
the assimilation of varied races to our American ideals 
and standards is remarkable. When we consider that 
it concerns not merely the forms of language, but the 
ideas that lie so deeply embedded in our English 
speech, and that the whole of English literature and 
history and the best part of the world's thought lie in 
the background, reentering the forms of speech, 
we may attribute to our mother-tongue great power 
to unify and consolidate our divergent races into one 
people. 

- The aim of language study in our schools can be 
stated with transparent simplicity and clearness. It 
is to make every child a master of good English for 



VALUE AND PURPOSE OF LANGUAGE STUDY 5 

common uses. It is strictly utilitarian and in the 
same breath points toward the highest idealism, for to 
attain excellence in the use of the English language 
according to one's needs reaches through every stage 
from the power to ask for a piece of bread and butter 
to the creation of a Hamlet or of an oration of 
Webster. Our language has a breadth and flexibility 
that fit it alike to a little child or to a poetic genius. 
There need be not the slightest uncertainty as to the 
fundamental purpose in teaching the English lan- 
guage. Make the English language a first-class 
instrument of thought communication according to 
each child's ability. This suits every child, and it 
suits all the other requirements of education. 

We might, however, say a word about discipline as 
that has long been a chief item in the creed. Is the 
study of English sufficiently rigorous to provide first- 
class discipline ? Two statements are commonly 
made about our language work in schools, (i) Lan- 
guage exercises are easy and feebly disciplinary. 
(2) The results of our language lessons are miserably 
poor. Boys and girls on getting through the grammar 
school cannot write a good letter, cannot spell, cannot 
express themselves effectively. This, in spite of the 
fact that we have spent as much time and drill upon 



6 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

language as upon other studies. These two state- 
ments are contradictory : one that language is too 
easy, the other that it has been impossible to get 
good results, too difficult. 

Our conclusion is that we have had a hard problem, 
and teachers have not been skilful enough to solve 
it, to get children to work hard enough to gain a 
simple mastery of English. 

We may say candidly that it is very difficult to 
bring a child to a ready use of good English in all his 
lessons. It may be simple and tedious and easy to 
teach him all the trivial items in a language book, 
but to get him to use good English on all occasions 
where good English is wanted, this is no small matter ; 
indeed, it is a first-class problem, and one we can 
apply all our skill to solve. 

Having a clear and unmistakable aim in view and 
knowing that the result to be achieved is difficult, we 
have merely to make a careful choice of the means to 
be used, and persistently and skilfully employ them 
for the accomplishment of the result. In this way 
we shall get all the discipline we can well require. 

The mastery of the English language is the mas- 
tery of a fine art. To gain this in any art is usually 
regarded as difficult, and language is one that 



VALUE AND PURPOSE OF LANGUAGE STUDY 7 

involves the greatest complications. It can rise to 
meet the height of any capacity. 

To acquire an art is more difficult than to acquire 
knowledge, because the former involves the use or 
application of knowledge. It is proverbial that the 
application of knowledge is far more difficult than its 
mere acquisition. Language, of all studies, is long 
and strong on the side of application. It never 
halts. It is absolutely persistent. One must be- 
come either a master of speech or a bungler. Some 
studies, like grammar or geometry, may be chiefly 
theoretic, but language is for use, and for use in con- 
stantly new and varying situations. At every step, 
in every study, there must be a mental alertness and 
tension to get correct utterance adequate to the 
thought. This gives a practical turn to language 
work that is unequalled among studies. All the 
accumulations that a child has gathered before, 
from many sources, are more or less in constant 
requisition. The skill gained in other studies may 
be lost and the facts forgotten without revealing 
immediate damage, as in history or geography, but 
power and efficiency in speech depend upon one's 
ability to retain and to use what he has previously 
gained. Among things having disciplinary value, 



8 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

this is chiefest ; namely, the study that ever and 
inexorably demands mental alertness in using pre- 
vious knowledge, and that, too, in the necessary and 
continuous relations of daily life. 

In conclusion we may notice that language is 
peculiarly the instrument of the teacher. Masterly 
use of it should be one of his distinguishing char- 
acteristics, while the constant and varied employment 
of it, to test and exercise the children, make it his 
main reliance. As education has broadened into 
new regions, other tests and modes of expression 
have come into use, but language still holds, and 
always will, the first place. 

There has been in recent years a combination of 
circumstances which now places language study 
clearly before us in its proper aim and function. 
The old classical languages, once so dominant, have 
dropped out of sight so far as the common school is 
concerned. Grammar, once so prized for discipline, 
has been found wanting so far as the chief language 
aim is concerned ; other studies, as science, literature, 
and history, have come in to supply that vital content 
which used to be lacking ; language itself is found to 
be indispensable to all the other studies and to the 
common uses of life. A whole body of excellent 



VALUE AND PURPOSE OF LANGUAGE STUDY 9 

reinforcements of good habits and good training in 
language have crowded into our school and are be- 
ginning to contribute directly and constantly to 
richness and elegance of speech. 

Even the art sense, the sense of beauty and fit- 
ness in speech, and the graces of style are beginning 
to be felt as moulding influences from the earliest 
years. 

In our better schools there are more and stronger 
influences at work to secure good language than ever 
before. These influences also begin earlier and 
thereby obtain a deeper and stronger hold. The 
enrichment of our course of study with literature, 
science, geography, and history provides everywhere 
for a fuller and richer language. We have there- 
fore the indispensable basis for a most fruitful treat- 
ment of language ; namely, many and varied fields 
of copious knowledge, where language must always 
keep abreast of thought. 



CHAPTER II 

Relation of Language to Other Studies 

The attainment of the aim proposed above is 
clearly not the work of any single study, but of all 
studies and of all school and home life. In our 
efforts to secure this result we must take a broad view 
of all contributing studies and make a combination of 
all favorable language influences. Every lesson in 
any study that is well taught contributes directly to 
our aim ; every poor lesson is a lowering of language 
proficiency. This does not exclude language lessons 
as a separate study, but it emphasizes the language 
side of all studies. 

It is often said by the critics that the language 
results in our schools are sadly deficient. So far as 
this is true it is a criticism of our work in all studies. 
It implies a general feebleness of work, a low vital- 
ity. Language is a somewhat delicate test of the 
vital quality in all lessons. 

Admitting that the results of language work in 
our schools are not satisfactory, we must seek the 

10 



RELATION OF LANGUAGE TO OTHER STUDIES II 

remedy, not alone in a series of language lessons, for 
the disease is too general to be cured by a local ap- 
plication. It is by strengthening the language phase 
of all subjects as well as by a more definite and 
systematic handling of a few special topics in lan- 
guage lessons proper. We may say in general that 
the positive policy of building up correct habits of 
speech should be begun as early as possible. The 
procrastinating policy of rooting out bad habits after 
they are formed is wasteful of time and disagreeable 
in the operation. 

We can afford to go back as far as possible in a 
child's life, and to accumulate all available resources 
and momentum, so as to carry him more surely to 
eventual proficiency in language. 

The great changes that have been going on in our 
school course have prepared the way for a decided 
improvement in language. The enrichment of all 
our earlier grade studies with literature, with story, 
with nature study, with poetry and song, with games 
and social exercises, and with occupations, is like the 
storage of large reservoirs out of which the fountains 
of speech spring. And speech does spring spon- 
taneously and abundantly out of these sources. Be- 
yond question the deep sources of thought and 



12 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

language are now far more liberally supplied to 
children than they were a few years ago. And in 
schools where these thought-producing materials 
abound the language results are far better. 

If children are still found to.be careless and slip- 
shod in speech, it is largely because these new studies 
are still undeveloped, still in their crude beginnings, 
and good language work cannot spring out of sub- 
jects poorly taught. When literature is well taught 
in primary grades, with lively reproduction of stories 
by the children, when songs and poems are memo- 
rized, when nature study leads to a constant spirited 
and sympathetic life and conversation among na- 
ture's objects and handiwork, when early history 
and geography find an equally strong and stimu- 
lating oral treatment, we shall find ,the foundations 
well laid for proficiency in English. 

Improvement, however, in these elementary arts of 
instruction is slow. The deepest and most difficult 
problems of education are involved. The newer meth- 
ods of oral instruction are not only new, they are 
more difficult than the old, formal ones. They re- 
quire more knowledge, more spirit, more power and 
tact in handling both the material and the children. 

In discussing the relation of language work to 



RELATION OF LANGUAGE TO OTHER STUDIES 1 3 

other studies we observe that there are two chief 
ways in which they contribute to improvement in 
language: first by supplying the original quarries 
out of which language is derived, and second by con- 
stantly reenforcing the specific teachings of the lan- 
guage lessons proper, that is, by offering a constant 
field for applying language lessons. History, geog- 
raphy, literature, and science are constantly supply- 
ing new words and sentence forms together with 
the substance of thought which they express. In 
increasing knowledge and in constantly widening the 
horizon of information these studies perpetually work 
at the building up of the structure of speech, and 
they have the opportunity of giving correct forms 
and habits from the start, of not only enriching, but 
of fittingly expressing the new thought. Here is an 
opportunity to mould speech and to impress correct 
and appropriate form such as could not better be 
devised. Every study has this special advantage in 
shaping a child's language. It requires thoughtful- 
ness and skill in every lesson to make proper use of 
this opportunity. It is by controlling these original 
sources of supply that one has the easiest and most 
effective means of implanting fit language. Yet it is 
not without conscious and painstaking care that the 



14 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

teacher can guard and cherish these early sources of 
good language. 

It is now generally admitted by teachers and 
writers on language that language lessons proper 
should derive many of their topics from valuable and 
outstanding lessons in other studies. The advantage 
is twofold, strengthening those studies themselves 
and contributing strongly to language proper. If 
language lessons elaborate the topics of other studies, 
they relieve the teacher from the necessity of hunting 
up and by class instruction preparing special topics 
for language. It is a double economy. Topics of pro- 
nounced value in other studies command respect in 
language lessons and, if well chosen, are in them- 
selves natural and easy centres of thought. The 
language difficulties have already been partly over- 
come ; the thought is clear, ideas flock to the child's 
mind, and he does not sit fumbling his pencil in 
search of something to write. There should be at 
hand this accumulation of worthy thought material, 
and the mind can then be centred upon the special 
difficulties of expression. 

The language lesson has its peculiar difficulties to 
meet, and it is better to strip away any other unneces- 
sary difficulties so as to let the mind struggle effec- 



RELATION OF LANGUAGE TO OTHER STUDIES 1 5 

tively and triumphantly with these knotty points in 
language. 

Nor will there be any monotony or narrowness in 
using the resources of other studies freely for lan- 
guage purposes. History, nature study, geography, 
and literature are such broad, deep, and many-sided 
subjects that great freedom of choice among many 
attractive topics is offered. Herein we suffer from 
surplus riches rather than from poverty. All kinds 
of subjects, all varieties of treatment, as description, 
narrative, and argument, are given in profusion. 

So far as history, science, and other studies are 
concerned it would be to their decided advantage if 
more of their topics could be handled in language 
lessons. But the latter are closely limited. They 
can only pick cut topics here and there. Objection 
has been raised to the extensive use of these topics 
supplied by the content studies, on the ground that 
it does not leave room for originality and sponta- 
neous self-expression. But we believe that it is better 
in this case to take a middle ground, to avoid hurtful 
extremes. 

Children should find much opportunity and en- 
couragement for original expression in self-chosen 
topics. But it does not seem safe to make this the 



l6 SPECIAL METHOD IN' LANGUAGE 

exclusive or even the chief mode of expression. 
Again, even in subjects selected from history, science. 
geography, and literature, there can be given great 
latitude for choice in the mode of treatment, and in 
the point of view. We are in full sympathy with the 
idea of freedom and originality in composition. The 
lack of it is one of the heaviest drags upon language 
studies. 

Great as are the senaccs of the other studies in 
contributing first-class treasures to language for more 
careful elaboration, they are equally valuable in their 
subsequent service in applying the lessons first em- 
phasized by language. The great difficulty is not in 
teaching what correct usage is, but in bringing about 
the incorporation of correct forms into daily uncon- 
scious habit. 

One may do excellent teaching in formal language. 
bring out clearly and convincingly the correct usages 
and rules, vet the force of previous bad habit, the 
perpetual wrong usage in home and on the play- 
ground are so influential that the school seems to 
barely scratch the surface and to leave the roots of 
old habits undisturbed. The weeds of language are 
growing as lustily as ever. Their roots have never 
been disturbed. Language is se deeply embedded in 



RELATION OF LANGUAGE TO OTHER STUDIES 1/ 

a child's life, in his habits, Feelings, and companion- 
ships, that nothing loss than a deeper cultivation and 
a rigorous scientific method will bring a good harvest. 

When the Language lesson has done its full duty by 
a clear exposition of the correct usage in adverbs or 
pronouns, when it has applied the lesson thoroughly 
by oral and composition exercises, we have merely 
made the first strong assault upon the breastworks 
of the enemy. We have not dislodged the hosts 
of error. They arc still in full possession. In other 
words the war has only begun. Pronouns and ad- 
verbs in hostile array arc lurking for us in history 
ami geography and literature and in every conceiv- 
able hiding-place in the school programme. Driven 
out of one place they reappear in other places. Defeat 
they do not know. Thev even take a pride in their 
own ugliness, and shame the boys and girls into con- 
formity to a usage that the school abhors. What a 
feeble resistance mere language lessons can offer to 
these omnipresent and redoubtable enemies ! 

Language lessons proper are merely scouts sent 
out to locate and determine the strength of the 
enemy. The war itself must be carried on by the 
great phalanx of studies that marches steadily and 
with singleness of purpose to the complete capture 
c 



1 8 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

of all important positions. The war must be car- 
ried on over a large area, spreading out through the 
whole course of study. In every study and in every 
lesson there must be a quiet but determined hostility 
to perversions of speech. The geography teacher, if 
he is a downright enemy of bad English, is an invalu- 
able ally of the language teacher ; the history in- 
structor can do no less valuable service ; other 
special subjects may be equally good champions of 
a pure mother-tongue. 

Indeed, if these are not friends and allies, they are 
positive enemies. There can be no honorable truce 
with bad English. ^All the studies are bound to- 
gether in one league for the purpose of insuring the 
purity of the fountain of English, or else there are 
traitors in the camp, and the house is divided against 
itself. 

The unity, the absolute oneness of education, can- 
not be better illustrated than by this mutual depend- 
ence and brotherly support of all studies in working 
out an effective control of good English. Some of 
the primary weaknesses and inconsistencies of edu- 
cational theory are well exemplified in language. 
Vj If the lesson of correct English taught in a lan- 
guage period is not to be carried into full effect in 



RELATION OF LANGUAGE TO OTHER STUDIES 19 

all studies whenever it may reappear, it might better 
not be taught at all. Or do we emphasize and insist 
upon a correct usage of verbs in a language lesson 
only to neglect and ignore it the next hour in arith- 
metic ? What is this other than self-contradiction 
and inconsistency taught by the best example ? 
There is nothing in theory or practice that can 
justify such suicidal teaching as this. The teacher 
must make his studies support one another or con- 
fess fundamental weakness in vital matters. Why 
should teachers object to this close correlation of 
studies ? Call it by some other name if the term 
"correlation " is offensive. We must at all events sat- 
isfy the indispensable conditions for securing good 
English. 

There is no subject in which the sin of isolating a 
study so quickly and so lastingly revenges itself as 
the subject of language. Language is so vitally close 
to other studies that it feels the heart-beat of them 
all. If now we are so ruthless as to tear it loose 
from its proper associates, if we orphanize it from its 
kindred during the period of childhood and growth, 
why should we expect it to perform its duties in 
later years in close relation to all experience ? 

The suitableness of history, geography, and nature 



20 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

study to serve as a basis for language lessons is 
further seen in the somewhat logical and systematic 
working out of lessons in these branches. A history 
lesson in intermediate grades is usually worked over 
into a clear outline of leading topics or points. The 
outline of these topics is placed upon the board or 
copied into the outline book. No better basis could 
be found for a composition, falling easily, according 
to topics, into paragraphs. These being already 
familiar to the children from the previous history 
lesson are ready at hand and in logical connection. 
The children are free, each in his own way, to mould 
the thought into sentences, so that there is great 
variety of construction according to ability and 
individuality. 

<This plan also provides that full oral* treatment of 
the lessons precede the written or composition work. 
This is the natural order. There should be in all 
the early grades abundant oral treatment and repro- 
duction of tales, ballads, historical stories, myths, and 
nature descriptions. The thought material is rich and 
varied, and its attendant language should partake of 
its copiousness. The children are already in posses- 
sion of a large fund of oral speech, and it is accumu- 
lating. It should be put to this service and caused 



RELATION OF LANGUAGE TO OTHER STUDIES 21 

to enlarge and complete itself upon the incoming 
materials. The written work is naturally subsequent 
to all this oral overflow. And yet it is so natural 
that under proper conditions the children betake 
themselves to pencil and paper without urgency or 
even request. Their interests and activities naturally 
flow along these lines, and it needs only the gentle 
supervision of a tactful teacher to give this growth 
steadiness and connectedness. 

This adherence to the outlines of geography, his- 
tory, and other oral lessons is by no means the whole 
of language work, even in lower grades, but it is one r 
of the chief means of seizing the most available and 
interesting thought materials, and of bringing their 
thought into connected, coherent form. It is like- 
wise the best means of strengthening that brother- 
hood and mutual helpfulness between studies which 
is, so economical and so conducive to thorough 
mastery. 

This close interrelation between language and all 
other studies is not exceptional. A like intimate 
relation is found between reading and other studies, 
between geography and others, etc. , v But language 
is the omnipresent thing in all studies, and the neces- 
sity for its immediate and constant use in school and 



22 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

out of school does not allow delay or carelessness 
in its treatment. 

In the " Method of the Recitation," we have de- 
voted a whole chapter to show the imperative need 
for applying knowledge even in school studies* 
Language lessons bear directly and constantly upon 
immediate needs. In language work we are not 
simply preparing for the future, we are trying to 
keep up with the present. " Sufficient unto the day 
is the evil thereof." At present the evil is more 
than sufficient, and we fall below a reasonably good 
standard. >l Of all studies, language and reading 
teach us the great and invaluable lesson of making 
immediate use of what we are learning. 

We repeat — language, because of its close, vital 
connection with all other studies and because of its 
hourly usefulness in every lesson, is the best illustra- 
tion we have of the underlying unity of all studies 
and of the complete practical dependence of studies 
upon one another. 

Two important conclusions may be drawn from 
the foregoing discussion. First, the language teacher 
must be well posted upon the content and character 
of the other studies which supply well-developed 
topics for use in the language lessons. If the 



RELATION OF LANGUAGE TO OTHER STUDIES 23 

teacher of both subjects is the same person, there 
need be no difficulty, but with special teachers in the 
different branches there is danger that they may 
know little of each other's work. But this difficulty 
must be overcome if effective language work is to be 
done. 

Second, the teacher in geography, science, read- 
ing, or history must know the special purposes of the 
language teacher, must study closely the plan of 
campaign laid out for the language class, and must 
be prepared to reenforce this work, definitely, in 
many ways. 

Without this intelligent, mutual understanding be- 
tween teachers in different studies, it is hard to see 
how they can cooperate effectively to attain a result 
so difficult and requiring such a concentration of 
forces. 

Herein lies the advantage of a well-developed 
course of study, in which each special teacher can 
become definitely acquainted with the work in other 
studies. But in addition to this, by teachers' meet- 
ings and by mutual conferences, teachers of the 
same class require to be continually instructed as to 
the plans and work of colleagues in other subjects. 



.' >* %*-••*■—•-: 



CHAPTER III 

Economy in Language Exercises 

In the crowded condition of our course of study 
every good means of economizing time and labor 
should be used. 

There are several important ways by which we 
can avoid wasted effort in language lessons. 

I. By fixing a simple fundamental aim and by 
sticking closely to it we shall save much time for 
better things. We know in a general way that an 
indefinite aim means a scattered and incoherent 
effort. But in language lessons there are just a few 
things that need to be thoroughly done. A failure 
to see these few things clearly means much time spent 
on doing many things that need no attention and the 
half-doing of the things that are essential. A clearly 
defined, single aim requires the careful selection of 
the few means that lead to it and the skilful em- 
phasis of these ; for example, special lessons on 
certain uses of pronouns and irregular verbs. 

The course of study in language, which follows 

24 



ECONOMY IN LANGUAGE EXERCISES 25 

later, is designed to give a careful arrangement to 
those few essentials that lead to a mastery of common 
English. 

2. The reduction of early bad habits to a mini- 
mum is secured by the use of a choice fund of excel- 
lent stories for oral work from the first day of school. 
These stories are not only first class in thought, but 
are presented in the simplest idiomatic English, 
often conversational, and abounding in just those 
terms of expression which are the right substitutes 
for the common errors of speech. It is quite easy to 
imagine that children under skilful teaching of this 
sort would fall into such correct habits (laying aside 
their own crudities) that language lessons proper 
would scarcely be needed. For this early story 
work is not primarily language, but introduction to 
good literature, and is only incidentally a training 
in correct speech. It is here that we take time by 
the forelock and build into the child's mind, early, the 
correct structure of words, which serves well for the 
foundation of all that comes later. 

This strong cultivation of oral language (through 
stories from literature, and a little later through oral 
work in geography, history, and natural science) is 
the natural preliminary and introduction to reading 



26 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

and language lessons. Through a rich and varied 
cultivation of oral speech the mind becomes satu- 
rated with right phrases, words, and sentential forms. 
Unconsciously, strong, vigorous, and correct forms of 
speech become habitual. When the child has been 
well equipped with this familiar fund of correct oral 
speech, he passes over easily to correct written 
forms. This early fixing of right habits through oral 
practice is far more economical than the later cor- 
rection of bad habits when once formed. 

The surest method of quickly mastering language 
is by the unconscious imitation of good examples. 
A child strongly interested in good stories, poems, 
biographies, and nature studies assimilates good lan- 
guage with an amazing appetite. The choice and 
appropriate language of a skilful teacher is almost 
equally powerful in shaping a child's speech. " Chil- 
dren learn their native tongue by imitation, and imita- 
tion continues throughout the school course the chief 
factor in language work." (Chubb, " The Teach- 
ing of English," p. 374.) But all these good things 
a child appropriates unconsciously while in pursuit 
of larger game, — the interesting thought or story. 
This is the very economy of teaching. 

3. But in spite of the utmost care, blunders and 



ECONOMY IN LANGUAGE EXERCISES 2*J 

bad habits creep into a child's conversation. At this 
point we can practise strong economy by confining 
our attention to those few blunders that really need 
correction. The fact that a list of errors is given in a 
language book is not a proof that this particular class 
is making these errors and needs these corrections. 
Before giving a class a lesson on certain faults find 
out whether they are common to this class, i.e. 
whether the medicine suits this particular case. It 
is not very unusual to see a class drilled upon usages 
for which there is no necessity and which are a bore 
to them. One experienced teacher said that half the 
mistakes made by children were committed in the 
forms of the verb to be. By concentration upon 
the few essential corrections, and by systematic at- 
tention and review directed to these, we may teach so 
effectively that bad habits are really converted into 
the corresponding good ones. Whatever failure 
there may be must be made up by systematic at- 
tention to correct speech in the other studies. 

4. An excellent economy may be practised wher- 
ever we can enlist the genuine interest of the children 
in correct and elegant speech. Children enjoy 
strong, vigorous, and effective language ; they take 
on a feeling of distaste and dislike for clumsy and 



28 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

uncouth errors. Popular errors heard out of school 
they enjoy criticising and overhauling. The curi- 
osities of language, as the meaning of homonyms and 
antonyms, even the irregularities and freakish things, 
they like to discover. 

The rhythmic and musical phases of language 
please children from the earliest years. Wherever 
a real interest can be awakened for language, the 
work will be done more quickly and effectively. A 
certain amount of pure drill and drudgery is inevit- 
able, but it should be reduced to a minimum, because 
this kind of work attains the result with the larger 
expenditure of friction, labor, and time. 

5. We shall attain our desired end in language if 
we do not demand a too great accuracy and careful- 
ness in many little niceties and excellencies of speech. 
Children are not perfect, and they will not be till 
long after we get through with them. Overnicety 
and punctiliousness defeat the end they seek to gain. 
" The chief difficulty may be indicated by the word 
tJwrougJiness ; to be thorough enough, and thorough 
with the kind of thoroughness possible in such a 
matter as language ; to avoid pedantic, literal, 
murderous thoroughness — how difficult that is ! 

" That would be an absurd thoroughness in draw- 



ECONOMY IN LANGUAGE EXERCISES 20, 

ing which would keep a child drawing circles until it 
could draw a perfect one. Similarly, it would be a 
choking pedantry in English work that would confine 
a child to the practice of certain words or forms of 
speech until its usage was rigorously perfect. Clearly, 
thoroughness in an art is a relative thing, — relative 
to the general powers of the child ; it can only be 
approximative." (Percival Chubb, " The Teaching of 
English," p. 365.) 

Children must do considerable blundering in order 
to make progress. A person in learning German, 
for example, blunders incessantly ; but gradually out 
of these blunders emerges more accurate speech. 
The same with a little child in learning English. 
He gradually overcomes marked defects of speech. 
We can afford to put up with many faulty and blun- 
dering attempts of children if they are thinking hard, 
trying strenuously, and keeping their minds on the 
main issues, including language. The main things 
they must keep constantly in mind. The teacher 
should overlook nothing, but he should watch his 
chances for making corrections and bring them in as 
clandestinely as possible on some occasions and very 
boldly on others. There is no telling what a teacher , 
should or should not do on occasion, but ordinarily 



30 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

he should not pester and nag and badger children 
with little things when big things are at stake. We 
are simply stating a neglected truism when we say 
that children are immature, that they do lew things 
with perfection, that they are always on the verge of 
new and difficult things, and these are proverbially 
hard; in other words, that the standard of excellence, 
as fixed by the growing and immature condition of 
children, is not the standard of adults. In language, 
as in everything else pertaining to children, we are 
trying to encourage a healthy growth. 

The pedantic schoolmaster will save time and vexa- 
tion by a kindlier attention to these peculiarities of 
human nature. 

6. Another place tor economizing time in language 
study is in reducing the time given to technical gram- 
mar and in eliminating from grammar itself a large 
share of the nicer classifications and subtle distinc- 
tions which gave bulk to the older grammars. Nor 
do we need much abstract philosophy or introspec- 
tion to get at the essential classes and laws of 
language structure. 

It has long been acknowledged that these elaborate 
grammatical technicalities do not much increase effi- 
ciency or correctness of speech, and now that the doc- 



ECONOMY IN LANGUAGE EXERCISES 3f 

trine of formal discipline is tottering, and in the minds 
of many is already cast down, we may take courage 
to look grammar squarely in the face and ask for 
deliverance from useless technicality and formality. 

7. Exercises in spelling which are here included 
should be limited to words whose meanings arc 
understood. In the olden day, when there was not 
much breadth and variety to school work, a large 
amount of time was devoted to curious and unheard-of 
words, and to the curiosities and puzzle spellings 
which added nothing to a child's real intelligence. 
Now that there are so many vitally important studies 
waiting for audience with a child, we can well afford 
to banish the old-time trivialities. The spelling-match 
may still be of value in arousing interest, and so far as 
possible rules of spelling should be inductively devel- 
oped and illustrated and the shortest cut found to 
the spelling of classes of words. 

8. In close connection with language exercises the 
question of good penmanship must be met. Here 
again we must find the line of moderation between 
too painstaking and overcareful writing and the loose 
carelessness and even slovenliness that arc so com- 
mon. Clear, round, intelligible script, that is cor- 
rect in general form, and can be easily read, is the 



32 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

standard. The strict schoolmaster often sets up too 
high a standard, and this interferes, with other more 

important results. Children's work is necessarily 
somewhat crude and should not be forced up to any 

unnatural, pedantic excellence. Gradual betterment 

and progress are the desired things, so Long as the 
child is working earnestly under the impulse of 
thought, that must be made clearly Intelligible. 

These are all important ways of economizing time 
ami effort. 

In conclusion we may notice that a close organi- 
zation and sequence of topics throughout the grades 
will give simplicity and strength to the whole. Mr. 
Chubb says: " We must avoid waste in order to get 
good results ; and this we shall do when (i) our pro- 
grammes are more organic and unified than now, and 
(2) when the work of each grade is done by the 
teacher in the light of the course as a whole, and 
according to the final ends aimed at. 

"(1) Our English Course ought to show a definite, 
organizing policy, animating and articulating the 
work of each grade ; a network of connecting tissue 
uniting it all. 

"(2) The success of such a plan must depend 
upon the teacher's ability to see the work of her 



ECONOMY IN LANGUAGE EXERCISES 33 

grade in its organic relation, not only to the work oi 
the grade below and the grade above her own, bul as 
a stage in the progress toward certain final results, 
and as a contribution to those results." 

The same simplicity and unity of language aims 
must pervade all the studies of the sehool course. 

Jn the previous chapter on the relation of language 
to other studies it is plain that only by concerted 
aetion in pursuit of the same aims can wasteful 
repetitions and time squandering be avoided. 



CHAPTER IV 

Method in Language Lessons 

The personal motive with which both teachers 
and pupils undertake language lessons has much 
to do with their ultimate success. Language les- 
sons from one point of view are a sort of formal 
device for making good the language deficiencies 
of other studies, where thought is uppermost. 
Language lessons, therefore, have often been re- 
garded as a routine drill. They are designed to 
enforce and strengthen certain correct formal 
usages of speech. These are naturally arbitrary 
and mechanical and have been considered the 
legitimate prey of the mechanical teacher. This 
routine language plunder, collected from all the 
studies, furnishes out a paradise for the drill 
teacher. In themselves these exercises have but 
little interest to children, and they therefore supply 
the best illustration of strong discipline without 
motive. 

Many excellent teachers have felt that if they 

34 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSON'S 35 

could carefully arrange these drill exercises in 
connected series through the grades, and could 
then bring to bear a steady pressure of drill upon 
them, they could solve the language problem and 
turn out children possessed of a reasonable mas- 
tery of English. We cannot deny that when this 
policy has been consistently followed, it has 
achieved a certain degree of success. 

Yet in education machine contrivances of this 
sort never wholly fill the bill, and they are sooner 
or later condemned as too costly. From a careful 
paper upon this subject by Professor N. D. Gil- 
bert, I wish to quote the following sentences: — 

"Of the making of language books there is no 
end, but for all that there comes an unremitting 
cry that the children of our schools do not learn 
to speak or to write Knglish. These books con- 
tain numerous exercises at points where errors 
most abound. Nevertheless the teaching based 
upon them seems not to bring about effective re- 
sults in the language of the children. The rea- 
sons for this seem not far to seek. First, good 
teaching is not a matter of absolute and precise 
prescriptions. Second, such exercises can be 
brought into touch with a child's experience and 



36 SPECIA] METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

enter Into the body of his spontaneous thinking 
only in some more or Less forced way; hence his 
tendency to cany these exercises over and put 
them into the real things of his life is relatively 

weak. Third, the ideals of these books are lin- 
guistic forms. They induce the corresponding atti- 
tude on the part of the teacher. Curiously, 

perhaps, but inevitably, when wo reflect on the 
scheme, this insistence on forms kills the teaching 
of forms in any vital way. 

" This all must mean that the forms of correct 
speech are taken on lor use only in the course of 
one's active thinking — thinking into which his 
personal activity spontaneously and strongly goes." 

Mr. Gilbert's conception of language work is thus 
seen to be in marked contrast to the drill motive 
which underlies many of our language lessons. In 
the language books the formal side of language is 
given a commanding place; he would make these 
forms merely an outcome and expression of lively 
experience with interesting thought. 

It seems strange and even discouraging that 
we cannot attack the language problem in this 
direct, straightforward, and formal method of the lan- 
guage books and thus master it. But language is too 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 37 

vitally dependent upon a child's whole life activity to 
be reconstructed by any independent series of mere 
language drills. The teacher has a much more diffi- 
cult problem than that of teaching, no matter how 
well, any prescribed series of mere language les- 
sons. Language is the outer clothing of thought, 
and when you take away the animating spirit, 
you have nothing left but a dummy. 

"The development of appreciative power is the 
best of aids in the development of expressional 
power. In other words, expression is intimately 
related to impression. The best class in composi- 
tion is generally the best class in literature. 
Those can give most and best who have received 
most and best. Children learn to write as they 
learn to swim by watching and imitating others; 
by trying under the lead of a model. They de- 
velop a feeling and instinct and knack for writing, 
without which they will never be effective as 
writers. Unless one can develop this craftsman- 
like pride and interest one labors to small results. 
The child or youth who writes well is he who 
ieels that he has something to say, wants to say 
it, and to say it well — to make his point. He 
naturally falls back, consciously or unconsciously, 



38 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

upon examples known to him. A workmanlike 
regard for his tools, a sense of responsibility 
toward the medium in which he is working, — this 
is what we want to develop ; and this is developed, 
not by rule and injunction, but by catching the 
spirit and developing the conscience of the craft 
through the persistent effort to practise it." (Per- 
cival Chubb, "The Teaching of English.") 

It is the business of the language teacher to 
carry over the lively interest, the thought impulse 
of home life, of the history or geography lesson, or 
the science excursion into the language period. The 
language lesson is the completion of thought move- 
ment that began in the literature or science lesson. 

The teacher as well as the children should be 
full of the thought engendered by these great 
studies. Loaded with this kind of freight there 
will be something to discharge into the channels 
of language. It is in the shaping of this copious 
thought material furnished by the other studies, 
and by the rich experiences of child life that the 
whole capacity and resourcefulness of the teacher 
are fully tested. The spirit awakened by these 
studies should be retained in the language, and 
yet the emphasis should be placed on the diffi- 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 39 

culties of expression. To keep up this life connec- 
tion with fruitful studies in the very act of drilling 
upon the forms of speech, — this will test alike the 
teacher's power and the children's capacity to per- 
form a double task. 

Language teaching in this sense becomes a many- 
sided and fruitful field of study and cannot be tied 
down to exact prescriptions and drills. 

One advantage of this binding connection between 
thought studies and expression is that it gives the 
child a compelling motive in his language work. 
The transition from a history lesson to the language 
treatment of the same topic is natural and legitimate 
and carries the same weight of interest and serious- 
ness as the original lesson. 

This transfer of effort is seen in the use of 
stories in primary grades, for board illustration and 
description, also in the employment of American his- 
tory stories for later compositions in intermediate 
grades, and in the use of well-chosen topics of gram- 
mar-grade history for written papers. It is assumed 
that such derived topics are a reenforcement of the 
language lessons on the thought side. Mr. Chubb 
says, " We communicate knowledge in vain if we do 
not evoke stable and growing enthusiasms." 



40 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

Even the more formal language lessons on irregu- 
lar verbs, pronouns, and homonyms may supply a 
motive to children in the form of a problem or diffi- 
culty in the use of language which their regular 
lessons have brought clearly into view. 

Language itself is not destitute of interest and 
motive for children when its problems are properly 
set up before them. The bearings of these problems 
upon the life interests of children should be kept 
constantly open by watching for opportunities to fan 
their zeal for letter-writing, for making rhymes, for 
working up debates or stories, for copying quota- 
tions from favorite authors, in fact for any form of 
written expression which children from time to time 
find entertaining. Even the mechanical execution of 
lessons appeals to the physical activities. 

Before taking up the specific work of primary 
language lessons, a few topics of a more general, 
comprehensive character, applying more or less to 
all grades, require discussion. In other studies as 
well as in language there is necessity for the correc- 
tion of mistakes in oral speech. There can be no 
excuse for the neglect of this in any study. A high 
standard of correct and elegant speech should be 
maintained in every study. To attain this result 



mi. I HOD in LANGUAGE LESSONS 41 

1 

there must be a steady and persistenl attention to It. 
'i in- manner in which corrections are made will 
differ greatly. In general there should not l><: an 
abrupt and interfering way oi criticism and oi dis 
turbing the child'i thought, Mosl corrections can be 
made quietly and without serioui interruption, The 

sensitiveness of children also makes it ne<< ,,;uy to 

avoid harsh measures. A teacher can beovei punc 
1 Minus and pedantic and pay too much regard to little 
things. The main effort should be to secure a strong 
and vigorous thought movement with a pronounced 
attention to language. It will not do to pass by all 

mistakes on the ground that a child | annol think and 

speak correctly at the same time. Thai is precisely 

iIm; thing he must learn to do, and he should care- 
fully practise it in every study. Accuracy oi ipe 

will even COndui C to precision ol thought. Thought 
and language are ( on* ornitant. They should be 

welded together as< losely as possible, and attention to 

more than one thing at a time is the normal require- 
ment in all sf udii 

Closely bound up with this is the question ol the 

dsgr«$ of excellence, the standard of perfe< tion in 
language, which should he maintained. This topic 

was discussed in a previous I haptor (also in the- 



42 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

" Special Method in Manual Training "), but a brief 
treatment is here added from the class-room stand- 
point. 

As a general rule teachers are careless of speech 
and put up with too low a standard of excellence. A 
few, on the other hand, who make a strong point of 
good language, may set up standards which are too 
difficult. Language is a subject in which children 
should steadily increase in proficiency and power. 
It is with us from first to last and all the time, and 
it offers the best of all chances for a continuous, 
unremitting improvement. What is most needed is 
steady pressure and constant attention. Spasmodic 
efforts, special language drills, could be largely dis- 
pensed with if we were steadily consistent in at- 
tending to correct speech in all studies. There 
are many proofs, however, that the adult standard 
of excellence cannot be applied to children in the 
class room. One who watches children at board work 
or hears them in recitation must soon admit that 
crude, imperfect efforts should be allowed and even 
encouraged as the only possible avenues leading up to 
subsequent better results. If children were capable 
of immediate perfection, they would not need such 
long-continued guidance. But they are in the crude, 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 43 

awkward, developing state, and we cannot even find 
time to correct all the mistakes they make. We 
must emphasize special points, chief kinds of error. 
Their improvement must be gradual and continuous 
if successful, and at no stage should the adult stand- 
point be applied to them. Common sense would 
suggest that a child in a day cannot leap to the result 
which an adult has taken years to reach. Gradual 
growth toward perfection in such a complicated art 
as language expression is the only reasonable stand- 
ard. Our conclusion is that constant and unremitting 
care and watchfulness in the kindly correction of 
chief mistakes is far more effective than a standard of 
adult perfection rigorously enforced by the drill master. 

Written Language in Primary Grades 

From observing the teacher, writing on the board 
in frequent exercises, the children, impelled by 
the natural desire for imitating and by the im- 
pulse for action, turn to the blackboard as naturally 
as to the games of the playground. Their first 
efforts to write single words from copies by the 
teacher are crude and shapeless, but they repre- 
sent natural and genuine effort. 

As the children try to imitate the teacher, so the 



44 SPECIAL METHOD IN. LANGUAGE 

teacher should try to imitate the children and 
accommodate herself to them by writing in a plain, 
large figure. The full, easy swing of the teacher's 
arm is just the thing to encourage those large mo- 
tions which the children can best make, and thus 
at the start they are switched away from those 
little, gramped motions that are the bane of chil- 
dren's early work. 

Then the teacher moves back and forth promptly 
among the children at the board, encouraging indi- 
viduals, and suggesting a change here and there. 
At times the attention of the whole class is called 
to the making of a word or letter by the teacher, 
and they try again. 

It is not long before they will attempt short 
sentences from the story of the " Old Woman and 
the Pig," or from a nature-study lesson. 

The primary teacher knows how to find excellent 
promise in the crudest efforts. Even when a left- 
handed boy writes words upside down and from 
right to left, she may find that the work is " ex- 
cellent " and deserving of repetition in a modified 
form. When a boy or girl works carefully with a 
genuine purpose, the result is excellent, no matter 
what the critic may think. 



METHOD IN , LANGUAGE LESSONS 45 

The board is a better place for the first efforts at 
writing because of the large movements it allows, 
and this kind of work may continue some weeks 
before resort is had to pencil and paper. The diffi- 
cult words occurring in reading lessons in first grade 
may be used for a written spelling lesson at the 
board. As soon as children have mastered the 
earliest difficulties of copying and writing, they 
may copy some of the verse couplets they have 
memorized. 

In their first seat-writing unruled paper should be 
given them or paper with broad rulings, so as to 
allow a large, free arm-movement, similar to that at 
the board. 

As far as the conditions of the school permit, the 
board and seat work in language should be done 
under the immediate supervision of the teacher, so 
that rapid improvement can be made. There are 
not many lessons in which little children can be 
left wholly to themselves without wasting time 
and forming bad habits. At any rate, when the 
teacher is free to watch and guide their efforts, 
there should be much activity in moving about 
among the children, encouraging, revising, giving 
copies, showing how to hold the pen, suggesting 



46 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

good position, and keeping up spirited and sus- 
tained effort. 

For seat work, when the teacher is hearing other 
classes, there may be the copying of poems or prose 
stories from the readers. The use of capitals, 
periods, and other forms of punctuation can be thus 
incidentally practised. They may also make copies 
of verses or sentences written on the board by the 
teacher, involving simple abbreviations, question 
mark, proper names, etc. Even in the first grade 
it is well to give some stress to the correct use of 
the forms of the verb to be with singular and plural 
subjects, to the right use of pronouns in common, 
simple sentences, to the use of a and an, there is and 
there are, and other corrected expressions which are 
peculiar to the class or the locality. Such correc- 
tions can usually be made in an easy manner inci- 
dental to oral work and to board and seat exercises, 
as described above. 

In the second grade, after an oral introduction to 
spirited stories, and after the first hardships of 
writing have been overcome, the children are able 
to attack the difficulties of sentence work with much 
greater confidence and success. Their board work 
begins to take on more regular and conventional 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 47 

form. The Robinson Crusoe and Hiawatha stories 
supply a spirited motive to free picture-and-sentence- 
making. The large amount of oral conversation 
and reproduction give ever recurring opportunities 
to work in the correct phrases which take the 
place of the crude and erroneous expressions first 
supplied by the children. Out of this oral work, 
also, the observant teacher will gather up those few 
common blunders which need special attention in 
oral and written language lessons. 

In the second grade there is a special chance 
to sec the advantage of the lively oral treatment 
of stories and the oral discussion and reproduction 
of nature study and literature lessons as a prelimi- 
nary drill in apt and correct language. Out of 
this rich fund of life and language material it 
is possible for the teacher to arrange a series of 
appropriate written language drills, and for the 
time being round out and perfect the child's expres- 
sion. By cultivating early this free and spontaneous 
activity with the pencil, crayon, and pen, the habit 
of writing becomes almost as easy and natural as 
oral speech, and in later grades written language 
will not appear so forced and unnatural. 

It may seem premature in second grade to intro- 



48 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

duce the forms of irregular verbs, homonyms, pro- 
nouns, and auxiliary verbs (as may and can), but all 
these forms appear in the usual oral lessons and are 
natural. To bring them together in the language 
lesson and to illustrate their correct use may be 
simply done. The copying of memorized passages 
and familiar readings should be continued from first 
grade through the second. Written exercises, if not 
made burdensome by too rigid requirements, if the 
writing is kept large and easy, give physical relief 
and pleasure to the children. The natural desire to 
imitate these conventional forms and activities is 
really strong with the children as may be often 
seen in the voluntary written efforts of little ones 
in the home. 

Intermediate Grades {Third, Fourth, and Fifth} 

It is in these three intermediate grades that much 
of the most effective work can be done both in oral 
and written language. We are constantly building 
up and revising the children's language store. 
Each year brings on a new and most interesting- 
batch of stories from literature, geography, history, 
and nature study, with language as the natural 
channel of thought. Every strong and interesting 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 49 

lesson is a fountain of speech. It seems as if with 
proper care we could not help making all children 
linguists in the mother-tongue. The first thing is to 
see that they are well grounded in this rich oral 
speech, in the simple and many-sided pliancy of 
words. All this wealth of thought and expression 
lies implicit in the reading, history, science, and 
geography, and just enough attention should be 
given to language itself to guide the current of 
speech into correct channels. All this is presup- 
posed by the language lesson proper. The place 
for a child first to learn the shaping up of the main 
forms of sentence structure is not the language 
lesson, but the great thought studies that precede. 
The thoughts that must shape themselves into lan- 
guage forms are what create the framework of 
speech. This is the real moulding room. The 
language lesson is the place where these rough 
moulded forms (castings) are filed down and 
polished, where they are tested and imperfections 
cast aside, where the fittings and bearings are more 
carefully adjusted. 

In written lessons of third and fourth grade we 
throw children more and more upon themselves in 
the construction of sentences. At first they are very 



V 



50 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

bungling. They run a whole page into one sen 
tence, with growing- contusion and irrelevancy. 
They multiply ands and thens % and seem to find 

either no start or else no stopping-place when once 
started. They indulge in sudden and wonderful 
transitions within the limits of a single sentence. 
At this stage the teacher should be very alert and 
watchful. Before beginning the written work it is 
well to have an oral statement of the main points 
with caution and suggestions as to difficult words or 
ideas. Some of the hard words may be placed on 
the board and noticed. When the writing is on, 
children just beginning this kind of work require 
close supervision, with a proper distribution of en- 
couragement, criticism, and control. Perhaps the 
whole class is stopped to call attention to common 
errors in spelling, construction, or meanings. Care- 
less work may require sharp reproof ; careful, thought- 
ful effort, though imperfect, commendation. The 
teacher steps to the board, and with the attention of 
the whole class shows how to combine two or three 
statements into one clear and simple sentence. 
Some children desire too much help and are con- 
stantly asking for a spelling or an explanation. 
They should receive a stimulus to self-help. Some 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 5 1 

arc inclined to imitate or copy others, especially at 
the board. This requires decisive checking. Some 
are very slow, and others too hasty. A more con- 
centrated effort should be required from both. 

Teachers are often at a loss to know what to do 
with these papers after they are written. The chil- 
dren would be glad never to see them again, and the 
teacher finds them a burden. And yet an examina- 
tion of them is really instructive. They reveal un- 
mistakably the thought and language power or 
weakness of the children. We are not seldom sur- 
prised at their poor papers, in view of their previous 
oral work which seemed good. 

A sufficient number of these papers at least should 
be examined to discover their weak and strong points, 
the common errors and the means of correction. 
Beyond this the teacher should economize time and 
labor and correct as few papers as may be. A great 
deal of the work of correction can be done in the 
class while the children are at work. Other papers 
can be read and discussed before the class. In the 
case of board work by the class much of it can be 
examined and revised by the teacher and quicker 
children during the class recitation. The teacher 
should use the blackboard freely in revising and in 



5- SPECIAL METHOD in language 

illustrating correct usage. In later spelling and 
dictation exercises the revised tonus may be drilled 
upon. It is not well to have corrected papers fre- 
quently rewritten, especially if children have made 
an honest effort to do their best. 
The teacher may economize time and inculcate good 

habits by having all materials in readiness when the 
lesson begins. At recess, ov just before the lesson, 
see that paper or blank-books, pens, ink, ami blot- 
tors are in readiness. Have the children distrib- 
ute and Collect the papers, pencils or pens, and 
other materials promptly. These movements must 
be carefully plan nod to be effective. 

When working at the board, pupils often spend 

much of their time in erasing repeatedly what they 
have written. They are extremely active with chalk 

and eraser, but little or nothing is accomplished. To 
check this wasted effort let the erasers be used 
sparingly or only by permission. Let children obey 

orders promptly at the board. 

In fourth and fifth grades children can use the 

outline previously worked out in geography, history, 
science, or manual constructions, as the basis of com- 
positions. The previous careful logical outline of 
these topics is a standing- illustration of the value oi 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 53 

first-class oral work, that is, of abundant and logical 
thought work, leading up to language lessons proper. 
In a good outline of a history story each topic is a 
unit of thought and the basis of a paragraph. In 
using such outlines it is frequently needful to have 
an oral statement of the leading idea under each 
heading so as to freshen thought and interest. Such 
efforts upon familiar topics should bring forth a 
prompt and full written response from each child. 
The members of a class will always differ greatly 
in the fulness of their treatment, but they should at 
least promptly concentrate their powers and give a 
creditable result. , 

By such devices as the teacher can bring to bear, 
children should be induced to remember and avoid 
the classes of error which they have been drilled 
upon in previous efforts. This can be partly pro- 
vided for by definite warnings preceding thu writing, 
and partly by close, critical attention to their efforts 
while in progress. 

A language lesson is no time for a teacher to take 
a needed repose. Few lessons are more difficult to 
conduct efficiently. Constant alertness and watchful- 
ness to secure the embodiment of previous teachings 
in each lesson are necessary. If this is not done, 



54 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

children persist in the same old blunders and care- 
less habits, and little real progress is made. This 
accounts for the fact that so much of the language 
work is poor. It is sometimes said that children 
continue through all the grades repeating much the 
same blunders. So far as this is true it is a standing 
testimony to poor teaching, to weakness and ineffi- 
ciency in instruction. 

In third and fourth grades children should begin to 
write letters, which may be sent to parents or friends. 
The natural inclination of children of this age to do 
this at home is proof that it is the fitting time to 
begin. The date and address, the capitalization and 
punctuation of a letter supply a happy means of 
introducing such formal matters. The addressing of 
letters, care in writing, in keeping margins, in spell- 
ing and neatness, can be best taught in connection 
with something which the children are anxious to do. 
The excursions, home experiences, picnics, and travel 
of children also afford good topics for them to work 
up in letters or compositions. 

During the fourth grade quite a variety of impor- 
tant language topics requires careful attention, as 
the common, irregular verbs, contractions, some of the 
more frequently used homonyms and synonyms, the 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 55 

often misused personal pronouns, the spelling of 
many new words taken from the Other studies; 
the introduction to the smaller dictionary so as to 
develop self-help in rinding meanings and pronun- 
ciations. These also need to be worked into the 
composition exercises at board and seat and applied 
to all manner of recitation and oral work in the other 
studies. Steady, consistent attention to these things, 
without pedantry and without scolding, must prove 
very fruitful. Each lesson should give emphasis to 
some special task. The controlling aim may be, lor 
example, the use of capitals, or of certain pronouns 
as / and me, or the address and introduction of a 
letter. It might be the correction of a certain kind 
of grammatical error, neatness and correctness in 
spelling and writing, or the form and use of certain 
abbreviations and marks of punctuation. It is by 
concentration upon one thing at a time that abun- 
dant illustrations can be given. The distribution of 
attention over many forms of error in a single lesson 
leaves no decided impression and does not lead to 
correct usage. In the special emphasis upon one 
aim, however, former lessons should not be for- 
gotten. 

In third and fourth grades also the habit should be 



56 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

fixed of reviewing, applying, and establishing the 
correct usages taught in the primary grades. Each 
instructor should take into view and assume responsi- 
bility for all the language work of the preceding 
grades as well as his own. Language is not a thing 
to put off and on with the passage from room to 
room, but a steady growth, a constant building upon 
earlier foundations. Better still, it is a perpetual 
revival and reinterprctation of old forms and usages. 
Eternal vigilance is the sole motto, and the teacher 
must have a mind broader than the grade work of 
her own class. There is not only an interrelation 
of studies, but a successive overlapping and splicing 
of years, and the larger aims that stretch through 
the whole of childhood into the years beyond should 
be present in each teacher. 

In the Tilth grade, while we carry on the main lines 
already indicated, the broadening studies bring in a 
few new topics. Business letters and social forms, 
bills and receipts, letters and invitations, the para- 
phrasing of poems and stories, and the correct and 
incorrect usages of language in the street and mar- 
ket are brought into the language exercises. The 
children themselves can begin to use the dictionary, 
and in this connection note the markings of letters, 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 57 

the abbreviations and punctuation marks used in 
their books and papers. 

The geography, history, arithmetic, and nature 
study require much use of proper names, abbrevia- 
tions, pronunciation and accent, and the symbols 
used in various operations. All these should be 
thoughtfully incorporated into the language and dic- 
tionary work. Every study can contribute to the 
mastery of these various forms, and that teacher is 
fortunate who sees clearly that all the studies must 
work together to produce efficiency. 

The motto should be learn in one subject and 
apply in all subjects. 

In the fourth and fifth grade there may be some 
development, inductively of rules for capitals, punc- 
tuation, and spelling. Where such rules grow out 
of practice, and express conclusions that clearly 
spring out of the cases observed, they cannot be 
called premature. 

In the fourth and fifth grades it seems well to 
make a free and natural use of grammatical terms 
such as subject, predicate, modifiers, noun, pronoun, 
adverb, verb, preposition, etc., without definition, that 
is, without more than ordinary explanation of un- 
technical words. Definitions themselves are not 



58 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

such dangerous things, but where regular grammati- 
cal definitions are learned, memorized, and recited, 
teachers seem to settle easily into the conviction 
that this is the main part of language work. Some- 
times it is begun early and continued through all 
the grades, and glides into a patient and passionless 
routine, which is supposed to be a good preparation for 
grammar, but grammar is thus killed before it is born. 
Success in the work of intermediate grades 
depends upon the mastery and steady application 
of a few requirements, in constantly reviewing and 
keeping in mind the examples and rules of work 
previously given. As Mr. Chubb says : " The funda- 
mental principle to be followed is that the mastery 
of language is a matter of practice — practice ani- 
mated by interest and enthusiasm, guided by good 
models and by wise counsel and criticism. Children 
learn their native tongue by imitation, and imita- 
tion continues to be, throughout the school course, 
the chief factor in language work." (" The Teach- 
ing of English," pp. 373, 374.) 

Grammar Grades (Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth) 

The language lessons in sixth, seventh, and eighth 
grades will continue the various lines of exercise 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 59 

common to the earlier years. It has been customary 
to give a strong grammatical character to the lan- 
guage work of seventh and eighth grades and often 
of the fifth and sixth. We are disposed to make 
the grammar subordinate to valuable composition 
and practical language uses. Our fundamental aim 
continues undisturbed to dominate the lessons ; 
namely, the ability to use good English. The 
complete science of grammar is not for children in 
the grades. Language as a science is the most 
abstract of school studies. If language is to be 
reduced to system and science by children, it is an 
exception to all other studies. Even nature study, 
with its objective material, does not eventuate in 
science in the grammar school, and why should 
language, which is a far more abstract and difficult 
mode of thought ? 

Passing over grammar for the present, we will 
speak first of the continuation of the language 
lessons. 

In the sixth grade we have outlined in the 
course of study a great variety of exercises in the 
forms and symbols of oral and written speech, 
such as the spelling of certain classes of words 
according to rules, the roots of common words and 



60 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

derivatives, the forms of business papers, abbrevia- 
tions, synonyms and homonyms, punctuation, cor- 
rections of wrong usage, making of outlines, writing 
letters and compositions. There is a danger that 
these exercises will take on a too formal style and 
lose their connection with thought-producing studies. 
They should constantly spring out of these richer 
studies and again find application in them. In none 
of the grades is there a greater variety of interesting 
and inspiring thought material than in the sixth. 
Besides the colonial history, American geography, 
American and European literature, and type studies 
in nature, there are general lessons with their lively 
treatment of current topics, and the biographies of 
authors whose poems and stories we have studied. 
The teacher should not fail to reenforce the drill 
upon forms with these inspiring source materials. It 
is possible to get up interesting and valuable exer- 
cises upon homonyms, or spelling, or punctuation, 
but every lesson will be strengthened by finding its 
direct bearings upon some interesting phase of study 
or experience. 

In this grade children should receive definite 
advice in outlining subjects, in paragraphing accord- 
ing to leading topics, and in simple unity and con- 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 6 1 

nectedness in thought. As the children grow older 
their powers of expression and their comprehension 
increase, and they should be given tasks which 
command their full strength and therefore their 
respect. 

In the nature study of this grade children should 
keep neat and orderly note-books, with careful draw- 
ings, sketches, and descriptions. Their reports upon 
excursions or descriptions of plants and animals 
should incorporate the good habits and correct forms 
taught in the language lessons. In history and geog- 
raphy there should be the beginnings of reference 
studies, and the reports of their readings may furnish 
good language exercises. This gives genuineness to 
both history and language. 

In the seventh and eighth grades grammar in a 
simple form is taken up, and the study of the history 
and development of the English tongue from Saxon 
times to the present may be treated, as to its chief 
epochs, in a way to illustrate its forms and deepen 
the meanings of its root words. In this connection 
derivations, prefixes and suffixes, synonyms and the 
diverse meanings, and even spellings, may be better 
explained. Language studies, even on the formal 
side, thus find their interesting correlations with 



62 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

the history of races, with literature and authors, 
with geography and science. 

Even children may begin to appreciate why we 
study French, and German, and Latin, and perceive 
the contributions which these languages have made 
to our mother-tongue. 

In the reading of these grades some of the longer 
and more important masterpieces of our English 
literature are seriously studied, and in close conjunc- 
tion with these the biographies of authors are treated. 
Such studies furnish an excellent basis for interesting 
reports and compositions. 

In the midst of the variety of necessary exercises 
in grammar grades we should not lose sight of the 
main aim, the ability to speak and write good English 
with ease. To attain this end all the previous exer- 
cises of the whole course of study should be brought 
together and focussed in these last two years, so that 
the correct habits arrived at in all the earlier grades 
shall be confirmed. Thus, in spite of its wide-branch- 
ing relations to all studies and experience, the whole 
course in language is simple, direct, and consistent. 

During the final years of the common school, 
children should acquire the habit of an easy and in- 
dependent use of larger dictionaries, cyclopaedias, and 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 63 

reference books in science, history, and geography. 
This involves a mastery of abbreviations and the use 
of the various appendices and lists at the close of the 
dictionary. It is possible to waste much time in the 
unintelligent use of the dictionary, in hunting out 
meanings that do not fit, in failing to interpret mark- 
ings, in not applying the rules of spelling and deri- 
vation to the brief suggestions in the dictionary. 
Children in order to learn to help themselves in using 
dictionaries and reference books need frequent sug- 
gestion and positive instruction. It is an economy 
of time to learn to do these things right. Teaching 
children to be self-helpful does not mean that they 
shall learn all these things awkwardly, slowly, and 
often not at all, for lack of intelligent guidance. It 
is well, occasionally, to spend a whole recitation 
period in a well-planned introduction to the mysteries 
of the dictionary. These things are used more or 
less in all studies and to get over the early difficulties 
and to establish the easy habit of using dictionaries 
and reference maps, cyclopaedias, and compendiums, 
so that a child is all the time teaching himself, revis- 
ing his spellings and meanings, enlarging and con- 
solidating his knowledge — all this is of the highest 
importance both for the present and the future. The 



64 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

unsystematic and neglectful way in which these 
things are done or overlooked is responsible for 
much of the wasted or abortive work of children in 
the schools. This is the place for inducting children 
into habits of practical self-help. 

In the seventh grade the analysis of sentences to 
determine subject, predicate, and modifiers, and the 
various sentential forms is an opportunity to inspect 
carefully this centre of study which we call the 
sentence, and which the children have been using 
freely in all its forms for years. This furnishes an 
opportunity to understand many things which have 
heretofore been taken for granted, as the agreement 
of subject and predicate, the interchangeableness of 
words, phrases, and clauses as modifiers, the differ- 
ence between adverbs and adjectives as modifiers, the 
use of phrases and sentences as subjects or objects, 
the peculiarity of pronouns as subjects and objects in 
sentences, the reasons for punctuation, as marking 
terminations or transitions in thought, and an insight 
into the reasons against common, incorrect usages in 
speech. Syntax and etymology, as worked out in 
seventh and eighth grades, give a rational explanation 
of the varied formal usages of language, oral and 
written, which have been constantly and thoroughly 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 65 

practised in all the earlier grades. This grammatical 
study, therefore, if it gathers the fruit of earlier 
usages, is a means of recalling, organizing, and ration- 
alizing a large part of the strictly formal and conven- 
tional work of earlier years. In other words it puts 
a deeper meaning into familiar usages. This sug- 
gests a complete inductive approach through neces- 
sary practical exercises to the rules and principles of 
language. 

For many years it was customary to approach 
grammar through orthography (letters and sounds) 
and etymology (parts of speech and classes of 
words) ; the principles of sentence construction and 
unity of thought in sentence and paragraph coming 
last. This was a gradual synthetic movement, begin- 
ning with the simplest elements. 

We are disposed to believe that a much wiser plan 
is coming into vogue of beginning with the full sen- 
tence as the primary unit of thought, of studying it 
in its various familiar forms, and of working gradu- 
ally into an interpretation of the lesser elements of 
the sentence (clauses, phrases, and words), and 
finally into the elementary letters and sounds with 
their classification. 

It will be seen that this plan in grammar corre- 

F 



66 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

sponds almost exactly with the complete change that 
has been wrought out and applied in learning to 
read. Good teachers of primary reading no longer 
begin with the letters and sounds, building these first 
into syllables and later into words, phrases, and 
finally into sentences. The sentence is the primary 
unit of thought, and from this as a starting-point, 
primary reading constantly analyzes into words and 
sounds and builds up again into sentences, using in 
succession all the well-known methods. 

In grammar also the sentence is the starting-point 
and goal. We analyze it into its related parts and 
ultimate elements. We constantly build it up out of 
these elements. Upon the sentence as the unit of 
thought is focussed every lesson. To begin gram- 
mar, therefore, with a study of the parts of speech is 
like beginning reading with a study of elementary 
sounds. We are too far from the centre of opera- 
tions, from the true basis of thought and interest. 
For a long time we are in the deep woods without 
seeing any outlet into the open. 

Now the sentence in all its varied and practical 
forms is. by long use and habit, perfectly familiar to 
children. They have long thought in sentences 
almost as freely as they breathe the atmosphere and 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 67 

as unconsciously. Most of the incorrect usages, 
which they have been trying for years to lay aside 
for better ones, are errors in sentence construction^ 
not in the mere forms of words. The main things 
which the children have been trying to take on, to 
assimilate into habit out of a great variety of rich 
language experience, are these sentence forms. 

Being now familiar with a great fund of sentences 
and words, and with their use, the chief question is 
at what point to attack this whole structure of lan- 
guage so as to systematize it, to reveal its principles. 
Sentences are real units of thought. To study and 
compare them as wholes and in their parts is to work 
out a whole system of language or grammar. If 
children understood only words and knew nothing of 
sentences, we should be compelled to begin with 
words. But school children generally express them- 
selves in sentences rather than in single words. The 
sentence as the expression of a thought is a centre of 
intelligent interest. 

Composition deals with still larger units of thought, 
as the paragraph and essay, but grammar is the 
science of the sentence as a whole, and of what 
belongs thereto. 

Applying the inductive method to the sentence as 



:^S S M- METHOD EN LANGUA 

the primal I of thought, wo naturally work out 

sses of sentences, ti ies 

the sentence 
- utax , and finalrj —..;• s Bind 

then iflc 5 tc meel the .' email .' s ol st 
cot id structure (etyi Spelling 

.v / des g e us the ultimate anal - - oA 

deal necess is iy made us 

amiliar with these elements and their 

This plan followed out ma us our syntax in 

g] ade and oui ;• uh. 

We v indicated thai g] 

grades shoi Delimiter principles 

of syntax - lould not run to seed 

ined and attenuated grammatica] classificat 
Oui s the pi k A 

, n o: the chief principles oi cv.i:nnur c 
e child] jenl i eaa i ect 

usages, 1: is a great advantage, w 
children are tough, to have a scienl 

ard up - tges may bo tested; but the 

in grammar, as in other Studies, endless fcXCI 
and variations, and it is not the business of the 
;her to lose the child in this wilderness. 



METHOD in LANGUAGE LESSONS oo 

It is Of Chici importance to make the main parts of 

grammar dear, so as to serve as a strong reinforce- 
ment of all the previous language work, and to 
render more efficient those parts of Language which 

the child has found necessary tor his uses. 

in the seventh ami eighth grades, accordingly! 

there is an opportunity for a Critical review, from the 

standpoint o\ grammar, oi the erroneous expressions 

which have been the burden of language lessons in 
all the earlier grades. 

The problem of getting good compositions in 

grammar grades is almost as difficult to solve as that 
oi grammar itself, and should receive as careful 

attention. 

There is, however, so wide a range of interesting 

subjects, and such as would seem to appeal to chil- 
dren, that the chief difficulties are found in selecting 
and handling the topics. For composition work it 

is very desirable to diseover topies which make a 
direct appeal to children by virtue of their interest 
and value. It is not wholly unusual for children to 
take pleasure in composing. Expression is natural 
to them if they have anything of importance and in- 
terest to say. The ideal tiling, and the most practi- 
cal thing, is to awaken in children such an interest 



70 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

and close acquaintance with a subject that they 
desire to give expression to their thoughts. When 
the opposite condition prevails and the whole matter 
is irksome and distasteful, the results cannot be good. 
If a child's interest is strongly awakened in any 
special branch of study or topic, it is well to utilize 
this preference to get him well started in composing. 
With children, as with balky or stubborn horses, it is 
better to let them forget that there is anything about 
which to be balky or stubborn. A child that enjoys 
books on history and biography will find that his pen 
and his thoughts move much easier along that line 
than in some uncongenial topic. The boy who is 
building a boat would better give a description of the 
materials, plans, process, and difficulties of boat-build- 
ing. Another child would take much quicker to an 
imaginary elephant-hunt, or to the spring vegetables 
he was raising in his garden. One boy prefers 
to write about Cooper's Leather Stocking, another 
about his laboratory and electrical apparatus. If 
a child can be got to do some vigorous and effective 
writing upon any of these, or of scores of other 
widely different subjects, the bugbear of composi- 
tion has been laid to rest ; the child has discovered 
that he has interests and powers in this direction. 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 71 

The school studies are as many-sided in their at- 
tractions as the children are different in their tastes 
and enthusiasms. Child life itself is full of interest- 
ing experiences and activities. It only requires a 
teacher who is awake to these various interests and 
proclivities of children, and who knows the rich 
pasturage of the various school studies. 

It may seem that this plan allows too much con- 
sideration of children's whims and notions and too 
little of what should be systematically done by all 
children in a class. But it is worth while to remove 
the cause of offence, to get at the reason for this 
deep-seated and almost universal aversion of boys 
and girls for compositions. Are the children at 
fault or the teachers ? Certain it is that teachers 
are sometimes blindly ignorant and unconscious of 
the fact that children are composing freely and 
enthusiastically in subjects of their liking. It is 
important that we should strike out frequently from 
the beaten track and give children great freedom in 
choice and treatment, if we can once set their ener- 
gies in motion and make them at home in this field 
of effort. 

Composition should be self-expression just as 
manual training, drawing, and music are. 



SPECIAL IfSTHQD IN LANGUAGE 

Much of the other language work is necessarily 
formal and pres< bed for all alike; why not give 
children greater freedom and license in i tsition ? 

Why not at least turn them loose into sea-chosen 
pastures? In tact composition in its very nature 
demands freedom and originality, It does not thrive 
in a cage. Fed on select books and authors, stimu- 
lated by the example of strong-, favorite writers, 
children having any impulses in a special study, or 
in love of reading, or in any active work, should let 
it impulses move them to express: To 

guide these efforts wisely will give the teacher 
plenty to do. 

There ate various ways in which the teacher may 
strengthen and guide these enterprising, self-impelled 
writers. History and biography, for example, inter- 
est main' children. But they do not know how to 

select topics. Striking problems and characters are 

all the while coming to light in history. Were the 
Tories unjustly treated by the Americans at the close 
of the Revolution ? Was it the people or a few like 
Washington, Greene. Morris, and Franklin who 
brought the war to a successful end ? Was it a 
wise thing to adopt the slavery compromise in 1787 
as a part of the Constitution? Why was civil service 



Minion in LANGUAGE LESSONS 73 

reform bo long and bitterly opposed in this country? 
In the Life Of Andrew Jackson do we find more good 
points to praise or bad things to condemn? These 

arc but random questions to illustrate the great 
number of curious problems that spring up in history 
study. Arouse the interest of a pupil in one of 
these problems, and you have an excellent basis for 
a vigorous composition. 

The lessons in history, nature study, geography, 
and literary biographies should constantly throw into 
not ice very promising and attractive subjects for 
composition. These suggestions should serve as 
baits and enticements, disclosing, as it were, the 
meaty parts of these subjects, which there is not 
time in regular studies to penetrate. But they are 
just the suitable topics for collateral and home 
reading. When once opened up by the pupils' 
voluntary study, they prove far more rich and 
fruitful than the text-book work or usual class study, 
because, when treated by good authors, such books 
are deep, rich, and comprehensive. Enthusiasm for 
strong authors, for large and fresh topics, takes 
hold. If this kind of study does not pave the way 
to self-expression, it is difficult to see how anything 
can. 



74 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

The teacher may also take an occasional period 
to show children, by examples, how to outline a 
paper. The selection of controlling points of view 
in proper succession requires thoughtful discus- 
sion. Even adults and experienced thinkers and 
writers have much difficulty with this choice and 
order of topics. We should not expect much of 
children at first If properly suggested, every leading 
head implies an aim or problem and may serve as an 
awakener and an impulse to expression. Sometimes 
a child's paper may be worked over in class to bring 
out a controlling topical organization. Children do 
not distinguish between important and secondary 
or even trivial thoughts. They must learn how to 
get facts into proper perspective and relation. 

There should have been an extensive and varied 
preparation for this outlining in the oral treatment 
of many historical, geographical, and nature-study 
topics in the middle grades. This is not the least 
important result of strong oral treatment and dis- 
cussion of subjects in primary and intermediate 
grades. The teachers themselves must there culti- 
vate a strong logical power for organizing and pre- 
senting subjects. There is also no better way to 
bring children into contact with this logical organiza- 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 75 

tion than by setting it before their eyes while the 
teacher is presenting a science or a history lesson. 
No amount of theoretical discussion of the prin- 
ciples of logical order can hold a candle to this direct 
teaching by example and personality. Long before 
children are called upon to organize different topics 
for themselves, they should have witnessed and par- 
ticipated in the working out of such plans, innu- 
merable, in the oral studies of the grades preceding 
the grammar school. Without this long preliminary 
training, to expect children at one bound to reach 
this difficult height may explain why in grammar 
grades they are so completely discouraged by the 
tasks set them. 

Not only are the children, when properly taught, 
familiar with many examples of such well-articulated 
topics in lessons, but the outlines thus secured they 
have often made the basis of their own efforts at 
writing up, in good form, these lessons. It is a long 
hill to climb from the crude efforts of beginners to 
the clear and simple working out of logical outlines 
such as should be attained even in grammar grades. 
Steadily and quietly from grade to grade children 
should grow in power to bring out a strong nexus 
of leading topics in a story or composition. It is 



76 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

a power gradually acquired by following the example 
of a strong and thoughtful teacher. 

There is always more or less difficulty in gram- 
mar schools in getting neat and presentable paper 
work. Boys especially drop into thoughtless and 
indifferent habits. It is necessary to set up a good 
standard of careful, thoughtful work, neat papers, 
good margins, with bold, clear headings, marked 
indentations for paragraphs, and a general sightli- 
ness that makes the papers easy to read and under- 
stand. All tendencies to use poor or scrappy paper, 
to offer slovenly manuscripts, to scribble and throw off 
careless work, need to be firmly and quietly rebuked. 

In these grades, as in the earlier ones, systematic 
and tactful correction of errors is needful. Pro- 
fessor Whitney says, " It is constant use and prac- 
tice under never failing watch and correction that 
make good writers and speakers." ("Essentials of 
English Grammar.") 

Mr. Chubb says in his " Teaching of English," 
p. 201 : " Again let it be urged as the principle of 
prime importance, that not every mistake is to be 
corrected. We must first correct those mistakes 
with which we are systematically coping in our 
language work and those with which the children 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS JJ 

have systematically grappled in their earlier work, — 
this on the supposition that the course of study 
provides for a progressive treatment of specific diffi- 
culties in each grade. . . . This puts them in the 
proper attitude toward the work of correction, and 
makes for that habit of self-correction which we 
must foster by every means at our command. One 
way of doing this is to take for class discussion 
certain typical mistakes running through a batch of 
papers ; to give a few special exercises on this 
common error, and then hand round the papers of 
the batch for class-correction, expecting that the 
class will discuss the errors and correct them neatly 
in the margin as the teacher would do." 

By all the devices at the teacher's command chil- 
dren should be encouraged to take pride in their 
work, even in the formal and mechanical parts of it. 
But criticism is not a more valuable means than 
wise commendation. Anything that conduces to 
self-help — the use of dictionaries and reference 
books, originality in thought expression, the habit 
of recalling and applying earlier rules and principles 
— should be encouraged and rewarded. In all 
respects a higher standard of excellence can be set 
up in grammar schools than in lower grades. This 



y8 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

should be such, both in form and thought, as to 
demand strong and serious effort and command the 
entire respect of the children. 

In order to establish common standards of good 
language work in all the studies it would be a 
wholesome thing if each teacher in geography, his- 
tory, and science, at somewhat regular intervals, 
perhaps once a month, should require a carefully 
written paper in that branch, and should set up the 
same requirements for neat and accurate language as 
in the language lesson itself. This would require that 
each teacher be an expert in language training and 
well acquainted with the aims and standards set up 
in the language work proper. Such a plan would 
establish a more definite standard of achievement 
for all studies. In addition to other advantages 
such language tests would reveal to each teacher 
the weak points of his previous teaching more 
clearly than almost any other device. 

REGULATIVES IN LANGUAGE 

General 

i. A vital experience based upon contact with 
the world or upon a strong interest in important 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 79 

studies is the only thing that can give a child a 
compelling motive for language expression. 

Even formal language exercises may find a mo- 
tive in the spontaneous efforts of the children for 
expression. 

2. The class-room standard of excellence in lan- 
guage must be high enough to require a strong 
effort. Constant watchfulness in the kindly correc- 
tion of chief mistakes is more reasonable and effec- 
tive than a perfect standard of excellence rigorously 
enforced. 

4. The teachers in the grades of a school should 
work together by gathering data and determining 
the classes of common errors made, by holding con- 
ferences to establish common aims and plans of 
executing the whole course of study as laid out. 

Primary Grades 

1. Imitating the teacher's free movements in 
writing at the board, children should be encouraged 
to write simple words and sentences in a large, full 
hand. 

2. As far as possible, the first board and seat 
work in language should be done under the imme- 
diate supervision- of the teacher. 



80 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

3. Even in the first grade the correct forms of 
pronouns, of simple verbs, and adjectives may be 
inculcated by kindly suggestion and practice. 

4. The oral story and reproduction work afford 
numberless opportunities for assimilating into the 
child's speech a rich variety of idiomatic phrases. 

5. Written work in early grades should be made 
the free outlet to natural expression and spon- 
taneous activity and should lead up gradually to 
great ease in the later use of written language. 



Intermediate Grades 

1. The framework of speech and all the varied 
forms of sentence clause and phrase are most 
forcibly inculcated in the great thought studies 
that prepare for the language lessons proper. 

2. Before writing, children should often be al- 
lowed to give a brief oral reproduction of the 
topics, with care as to correct language. 

3. At recess or at some previous time, see that 
paper, pads, pencils, or pens and ink, are in readi- 
ness. Distribute these materials promptly accord- 
ing to some definite plan. Often much time is 
wasted. 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 8 1 

4. Before writing, give a few plain directions 
what points are for special notice ; remind the 
children of one or two common errors in recent 
lessons. Where necessary, call attention to diffi- 
cult names or words involved in the lesson, writing 
them on the board, and pointing out the special 
difficulties. 

5. While the children are writing, let the teacher 
pass quietly arriong them, quickly noting and cor- 
recting errors, and using the board to show correct 
forms. Only an active and wide-awake teacher can 
hold the pupils to a steady effort. Otherwise there 
is much carelessness and waste. 

Carelessness and slovenliness in writing, spell- 
ing, and markings can be corrected in all cases 
if the teacher is vigorous and persistent. 

6. For written board work similar care is neces- 
sary. Let the children use erasers sparingly, and 
if necessary only by special permission. They 
should obey orders promptly and together at board 
work and in class movements. 

7. In the correction of board work children 
should be encouraged to acuteness in detecting 
their own and each other's errors. But prevent 
them from using time in trivial criticisms. 



82 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

8. Even when the teacher must be occupied 
with instructing another class, it is often possible 
to secure excellent board or seat work in language. 
The language books are of much service in this 
kind of lesson. 

9. In third and fourth grades, when first learn- 
ing to build sentences into connected discourse, 
children are helped by blackboard exercises. Sen- 
tences furnished by the children from some fa- 
miliar story or description may be discussed, revised, 
and written on the board ; the proper use of con- 
necting words can be shown and the breaking up 
of the thought into distinct sentences illustrated. 
Three or four sentences may be thus worked out 
and placed on the board by the teacher. After 
erasure the children may try to reproduce the ideas 
in writing. 

10. A few at least of the papers handed in 
should be carefully corrected, and should after- 
ward be discussed in class. The chief kinds of 
error should be plainly pointed out and the cor- 
rected forms illustrated on the board. Children 
pay little or no attention to corrected papers un- 
less they are openly discussed in the class. Atten- 
tion may be called to some of the best papers. 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 83 

Occasionally careless papers should be rewritten 
after definite criticism. 

11. Written language exercises should be based 
frequently upon lessons previously mastered in 
literature, geography, history, and science. The 
outline of such previous topics forms an excellent 
ground plan for connected written work. 

12. Have a special aim for children in each 
lesson. It may be correct paragraphing, or capi- 
talizing, or form and address of a letter, or correct 
usage in certain irregular verbs, or neatness and 
correctness in spelling and writing, or clear and 
connected narrative and description, or the treat- 
ment of homonyms, or quotations and their mark- 
ings. But in emphasizing a special aim former 
injunctions should not be forgotten. 

13. Each teacher is responsible for maintaining 
the standards set up in all the earlier grades and 
for keeping in mind those larger aims which 
stretch through the whole school course. 

14. Success depends upon the mastery and 
steady application of a few requirements, upon 
constantly reviewing and keeping in mind the 
rules of work previously given. 



84 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

Grammar Grades {Sixth y Seventh, and Eighth) 

i. Formal grammar should not usurp the leader- 
ship in language work in grammar grades. Mas- 
tery and use of good English should remain the 
controlling aim. 

2. The language studies should spring out of 
the rich thought of grammar school studies, and 
again find application in them. 

3. In these grades it is necessary to provide in 
language lessons for a well-planned introduction of 
the children to the uses of the dictionary, to its 
system of markings, abbreviations, lists, and appen- 
dices ; likewise the cyclopaedias and other refer- 
ence materials. If children are taught to use the 
dictionary and reference books with ease and in- 
telligence, they acquire the power and the habit 
of self-help, a thing of the greatest value both 
now and for the future. 

4. There should be worked out and illustrated 
in language lessons the simple rules for spelling, 
punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, the use of 
pronouns and irregular verbs, the agreement of 
subject and predicate, and the definition of the 
kinds of sentences. The results of these discus- 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 85 

sions, in the form of simple rules, with attendant 
illustrations, should be kept in some permanent 
form by the children. 

5. It is the custom in some schools to adopt some 
plan of preserving specimens of each child's work 
through the term or year. Composition books in 
which some exercises are written may be carefully 
used and preserved, or the teacher may file some of 
the papers for reference by parents and teachers. 

6. Throughout intermediate and grammar grades 
the technical terms of grammar, as subject, predicate, 
adjective, verb, modifier, clause, preposition, tense, 
etc., should be used, when needed to explain the 
thought like other words of language, but without 
precise definition. In this manner the children 
may become acquainted with the chief elements of 
grammar before they are technically defined and 
classified. 

7. The study of grammar in seventh and eighth 
grades, if it gathers up the fruitage of earlier lan- 
guage studies and usages, is a means of recalling, 
organizing, and rationalizing a large part of the 
strictly formal and conventional work of earlier years. 

8. In grammar the sentence is the starting-point 
and goal. Applying the inductive method to the 



86 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

sentence as the primary unit of thought, we natu- 
rally work out the chief classes of sentences, then 
the chief modes of structure and modification. 

9. For older children a knowledge of a few lead- 
ing principles of grammar enables them to give an 
intelligent reason for correct forms and usages. But 
the endless classifications, exceptions, and variations 
merely darken counsel with words, and are a source 
of needless vexation. 

10. One mode of appealing to a natural interest 
in composition is found in encouraging children to 
write upon topics in which they are individually 
interested. 

11. Composition should be self-expression, as man- 
ual training, drawing, and music often are. In its 
very nature composition demands freedom, origi- 
nality, invention. 

12. The teacher should be skilful in bringing to 
light interesting problems in history, geography, etc., 
which may stimulate children to fruitful reference 
studies in preparation for compositions. 

13. Steadily and quietly under the leadership of 
a thoughtful teacher, children should acquire the 
ability to work out a composition based upon a 
strong and well-articulated series of leading topics. 



METHOD IN LANGUAGE LESSONS 8? 

14. Grammar school pupils, especially boys, are 
disposed to throw off careless and unsightly papers. 
They should be quietly and firmly held to neat and 
well-written paper work. 

15. Systematic and tactful correction of errors is 
needful as in earlier years. 



CHAPTER V 
Function of the Teacher in Language 

To be a good teacher o\ Language in the element- 
arv schools is to satisfy a large variety oi difficult 

standards of excellence. It suggests a wide range 
of ripened scholarship and of social cultivation in 
favorable surroundings. 

A clear conception of the chief aim of language 
studies and of the necessary means of working it out 

must be assumed. This alone can save one from a 
large amount of wasted effort and of misdirection of 

children. 

From the standpoint of the needs of children the 
teacher should possess a decided literary training 
and an active appreciation of main- forms oi good 
reading. The teacher's own taste and enthusiasm 
for writers cannot fail to awaken and stimulate 
children. In the use of literature as a basis for 
language work these qualities are of prime im- 
portance. 

It is necessary for an instructor to be very sensi- 

88 



FUNCTION OF THE TEACHER IN LANGUAGE 89 

tive to bad English so that he cannot overlook such 
defects. Mis conscience should not become blunted 
by bad schoolroom practice, but he should perpetu- 
ally react against ill-usage in speech. Imt allied to 

this should be an equal sensitiveness to the feelings 
of the children so that ho will make corrections with 
tact. To combine these two things, to be alert to all 
mistakes, and not to allow them to pass unchal- 
lenged, and yet to be charitable and considerate 
toward the children, is a high ideal for the teacher's 
attainment. 

The teacher must needs be very careful and cor- 
rect in his own Speech, clear and accurate in pro- 
nunciation and in the choice use of words, that is, in 
both full knowledge and in manifold, skilful execu- 
tion. And yet he should be natural and easy, not 
stiff and pedantic. Children are very sensitive and 
stubborn about any show work. The teacher's treat- 
ment must be easy, natural, and forcible to be effec- 
tive and to inspire imitation.. 

The breadth of equipment needful to a language 
teacher is easily seen by surveying (1) the breadth 
of the region from which he draws his language 
topics, in literature, history, nature study, geog- 
raphy, manual arts, etc. He must be able to carry 



90 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

over the interest and spirit of these varied lessons 
into the Language exercises and thus vitalize them ; 
(2) the great variety of exercises involved in lan- 
guage lessons themselves, including composition, 
letter-writing, paraphrases, language drills on in- 
correct uses, grammar proper, spelling, writing, and 
dictionary work. There may be added to these 
the home life and experiences of the children, which 
the teacher must counteract and modify. 

The difficulty of this work is still further seen 
in the fact that the teacher must be consistent, 
must apply in all his own constant use of language 
the rules and requirements set up, and what is still 
more difficult must insist upon a similar application 
in the work of pupils. This makes language one 
of the most directly practical of all studies. In 
every lesson we pass over from things learned to 
things used, and that not merely in the language 
lesson, but also in all other studies and exercises of 
the programme. 

A broad view of the entire course of study 
through all the grades is a part of the teacher's 
equipment and that not in a superficial or theoretic 
way, but for the mastery and use of its resources 
in daily lessons. A teacher needs in this work an 



FUNCTION OF THE TEACHER IN LANGUAliK 91 

unusual endowment of the power to interest chil- 
dren and to inspire them with confidence. Many 
children are extremely diffident in public recitation, 
others seem to be naturally defective on the language 
side. Patience and kindliness combined with vigor 
and firmness are in great demand. 

During the language recitation an unusual alert- 
ness and activity are required of the teacher, 
especially in written language at the blackboard or 
when children are working at their desks. 

Much care should be taken in assigning the 
written lessons, warning against persistent errors, 
reviewing difficult words, calling to mind previous 
rules of spelling, punctuation, and correct usage. 
While the pupils are writing, they should be held 
to a prompt and steady attention to their tasks, 
trained to neatness and care in written work, cor- 
rected in their defects, and held to a high standard 
of performance. 

The language studies require from the teacher 
a large amount of originality and power of adapta- 
tion, in properly correlating the chief studies with 
the language lessons and in making such modifica- 
tions of the course of language work as are needed 
to suit the local needs. No course of study can 



or SPECIAL METHOD IX LANGUAGE 

exactly se lessons, especially in such a 

way bis to correlate with all the other studies. 

Perhaps the si of all difficulties is found 

in keeping up such a steady, consistent, and well- 
planned ".. development through the grades 
that old lessons are constantly reviewed and incor- 
porated into practice. : rect usages 01 Lght 
are persistently remembered and applied till firm 
habits of correct speech are established. 

In a graded school it is advisable thai teachers 
from all the grades should meet together from time 
to time to consult as to plans for a continuous 
improvement in language throughout all the grades, 
to make out lists of common errors, to hud ways 
of mutual assistance, and to secure unity and 
harmony of purpose in all the language exercises. 



CHAPTER VI 

Language Books and Grammars 

LANGUAGE books in various scries are now 
extensively used as a means of conducting Language 

exercises. 

While they do not fully answer the purposes of 
a first-class plan of conducting language studies, they 
seem to be a necessity. It is desirable, therefore, 
that we should state the strong points and the weak 
points of language books. To the credit of the 
best of these series we may say: — 

i. They make a liberal use of our best standard 
literature as centres tor the grouping of language 
lessons. For example, such are the myths, ''The 
Odyssey," "King Arthur," -Hiawatha," " Barefoot 
Boy," "The Children's Hour," "Rip Van Winkle," 
and many other longer and shorter poems or stories. 
These selections are such also as are regularly used 
in many schools as reading material. Nature study 
and history lessons, biographies of poets, artists, 
and statesmen are likewise used. These are very 

93 



94 5F U MET] ) □ a I LNGI ' 

worthy materials ar c boon caretulh worked 

up . .,: he .> 

-. There arc - - rated through these 

o cai - . . s upon the correct use 
pronouns, irregulai verbs, and ot i arms c 
misuse 

3. Th< so sreises in lettei 
writing, c j siness forms, abbreviations, 

is and rule- . : ca and p 

tual These art iis tsable in an] plan of 

language work. 

4. So far as - elhng, p 

usage, - . be reduced 

to rule, these are ck 

ley have been liberally illustrated and worked 
ductivery. 

5. The .'. of treating these various topics 
is partly s - tted 
by notes designed for the teacher's bene 

o. The ks are of g benefit to 

inexperienced teachers (as voi are\ and 

ble them to carry on such lessons on some 

definite and consistent plan, which without a book 

would be impossible, 

7, The language book is used extensively bi the 



LANGUAGE BOOKS AND GRAMMARS o; 

children for scat work, copying, filling blanks, study- 
ing lists, working out indicated exercises, and pro 
paring lessons (rules and definitions) for recital. 

S. In the best of these series a somewhat con- 
sistent and steady advance in language work with 
constant review of earlier lessons is provided for. 

Some of the weak points in the language books 
may he stated as follows : — 

I. Many lessons are included in these language 
hooks which are wholly unnecessary. They often 
deal with topics where there is no chance for a 
child to make mistakes, as for instance in the com- 
mon use of adjectives and prepositions. As Mr. 
Chubb says, they "insult the child's intelligence by 
trivial and uninteresting exercises." They should 
not be mere busy work in writing words and phrases 
and other exercises which have no pronounced 
motive. It would not be an exaggeration to say that 
half the lessons in some books are of this hackneyed 
and colorless sort. In using such books they can be 
best omitted. We have too many important and 
urgent duties in a school to waste time upon trivial 
exercises. 

e. At the same time lessons drawn from the other 
regular studies are lacking. History, geography, 



96 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

and nature study should be well represented in the 
language work. To omit this vital connection be- 
tween studies is to fall into dull routine and formal 
exercises. When we have such an abundance of 
these vital topics pressing for acceptance, it is foolish 
to select other trivial and unrelated matters. This 
difficulty can be overcome (i) by such a well- 
planned arrangement of topics in all studies as will 
encourage a proper correlation, and (2) by greater 
attention and thoughtfulness in teachers in efforts to 
correlate studies as at present arranged. 

3. In a regular use of language books there is 
danger of too much seat and mechanical work. It 
is an easy way to keep children busy, and it has this 
merit in a crowded school. But unless the tasks 
require intelligence and care and are closely super- 
vised, the results are poor and ineffective for improv- 
ing language. 

4. Many of the language books for the grades are 
infected with the desire to teach grammar and to 
develop grammatical principles. It would be wiser, 
we think, to let grammar shift for itself, and to throw 
the whole emphasis upon acquiring a fluent com- 
mand of good English. In the seventh or eighth 
grade, or in both, it may be well to work out the few 



LANGUAGE hooks a\p GRAMMARS o # ~ 

Leading ideas and principles of grammar. But some 
of the Language books give a complete and almost 
exhaustive grammar for those grades, [n our 
opinion this complete system is wholly uncalled for. 
This whole grammatical routine Is an Inheritance 
from Latin, it has no proper application to English, 

which is the opposite of Latin in its intlootion.il 

poverty, English cannot be mastered from the 
inflectional standpoint as can Latin, and it is 
questionable whether or not this is a good method 

even in Latin. Hut to impose this foreign and un- 
natural machinery upon modern English is irrational 
and blind, 

Ln : ;iish syntax can best be mastered for practical 
purposes by absorbing the modes oi expression com- 
mon in good writers and in conversation. As Mrs. 

Cooley says in the preface to her " Language 

Lessons," "Literature silently moulds the forms o( 

thought." The mastery oi an uninfected, but flex- 
ible language Like English can only be gained by 

direct contact with its modes of utterance in litera- 
ture and common speech. 

5. The language books are sometimes not sup 
plied with full lists of irregular verbs (with parts), of 
wrong expressions to be corrected, of homonyms, oi 



98 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

abbreviated and contracted forms such as the teacher 
may need for constant reference and review. The 
older children also could use these for reference. If 
the language book could be used more as a reference 
book, and as merely suggestive of topics, and be well 
supplied with compendia of correct forms for refer- 
ence, it would serve better the purpose of many 
thoughtful teachers. 

6. The chief general criticism of language books 
as a basis for the study of English is that they inevi- 
tably set the language apart, upon an independent 
footing. After all, language is vitalized only by its 
contact with other studies and life interests. To 
keep up this close connection with other studies and 
yet not lose the emphasis of drills upon special 
topics is the difficult thing. 

Where schools are supplied with experienced 
teachers who can use language books with discre- 
tion, frequently substituting appropriate lessons from 
other studies for those given in the book, it is pos- 
sible to make an excellent use of language manuals. 

As yet there does not seem to be a strong con- 
sensus of opinion as to the place of grammar in the 
elementary school (that is, below the High School). 
We can only express a personal opinion. 



LANGUAGE BOOKS AND GRAMMARS 99 

We can afford to exclude grammar as such from 
the first six years of the common school. Such 
rules for spelling, plural formation, abbreviations, 
and correct usage as are worked out are merely 
devices for quicker mastery of difficulties. 

The use of technical grammatical terms in these 
grades can be introduced, so far as teachers find it 
useful, without formal definition, as in other common 
words in reading, history, and geography. It is 
necessary to insist upon this informality as teachers 
drift so easily into a useless routine of definitions 
and keep it up all through the grades. The em- 
phasis in all these early years should be upon the 
common and correct uses of language. 

When in the seventh and eighth grades we begin to 
study grammar, it should be a very simple, broad sur- 
vey of its leading classes and principles. We believe 
that in the seventh and eighth grades also the main 
emphasis should be not upon grammar, but upon 
composition, upon the study and application of spe- 
cial cases of correct usage, upon drills and exercises 
closely allied to the other studies. There will be a 
persistent review of all previous language lessons for 
the purpose of establishing right habits. Grammar, 
however, is able to throw considerable light upon 

L. of % 



IOO SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

these usages, and the children in the eighth grade 
are old enough, we think, to begin to discover these 
rational relations between common practice and the 
laws of language. 



CHAPTER VII 

Illustrative Lessons 

The use of singulars and plurals with is and are and 
with other verbs 

There are two very common words which give 
boys and girls much trouble to use correctly. They 
are is and are. Even grown folks often fail to use 
these words properly. 

In sentences they are used with other words and 
the difficulty is in knowing with which words to use 
them. 

We will therefore make a study of the words with 
which is and are may be properly used. 

i. In the story of the " Lion and the Fox" I cor- 
rected several mistakes as follows : — 

I know a farm-yard where there are two young 
lambs. 

The wolf and the fox are running. 

The dishes are broken. 

Point out in these sentences where you made the 
mistake. 

IOI 



102 



SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



In a previous lesson we learned that a word may 
mean one or more than one, as book, books, horse, 
horses. Give other examples. Flower, flowers. 

2. In the following sentences notice where is and 
are are used : — 



The tree is small. 
The flower is sweet. 
The bird is singing. 
The girl is quiet. 



The trees are small. 
The flowers are sweet. 
The birds are singing. 
The girls are quiet. 



In our first reader you may hunt out on page 26 
where is and are can be found. 

The cap is pretty. My papa is here. 

The boy is running. There are our men. 

He is not in the house. Where are the men ? 
There is the horse. 

Let us change is to are in the following sen- 
tences : — 



The cap is pretty. 
The cart is here. 
He is not in. 
There is the house. 
My papa is here. 
There is our man. 
Where is the boy ? 



The caps 
The carts 

They 

There 



pretty, 
here. 



- not in. 

— the houses. 

Our papas here. 

There our men. 



Where 



the boys ? 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 103 

At this point give a number of the simplest 
examples in which the children supply the corre- 
sponding form, e.g. — 

The flower is sweet. ? 



The bird is singing. 



? 



? The horses are drinking. 

The man is resting. ? 

The tree is growing. ? 

? The leaves are growing. 

The star is shining. ? 

? The girls are reading. 

The river is flowing. ? 

(The temptation for the teacher at this juncture is 
to push the children prematurely to a rule to the 
effect that is is used with words that mean one, and 
are with words where more than one is meant. But 
in first or second grade, children will hardly discover 
this rule for themselves, and there is no advantage in 
forcing it upon them. The main thing is that the 
instinct for the correct form be established, because, 
as the children say, "It sounds better.") 

In the third or fourth grade with more language ex- 
perience and maturity the subject can be taken up again, 
the previous work reviewed, examples multiplied, and 



104 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

a simple statement worked out that are is used with 
plurals and is with the singular, as follows: — 

The field is green. The fields are green. 

The robin is hopping. The robins are hopping. 
The lady is singing. The ladies are singing. 

Give other examples, and let the children supply still 
others. 

3. Examine these sentences and notice the words 
used with is, as field, robin, lady, and then those used 
with are> fields, robins, ladies, etc. What is the 
difference in these two lists ? 

4. This comparison leads to a conclusion, which 
may be simply stated by the children, and any 
reasonably accurate statement should be accepted, or 
modified where necessary. 

" Is is used where one is meant and are where two 
or more are meant." 

5. There are several ways by which the truth of 
this conclusion can be tested and further applied till 
the various difficulties in use are overcome. 

(a) 

The cow grazing. The cows . 

The fly crawling. The flies ■ . 

The horses drinking. The horse . 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 105 

(b) Let the children make up examples giving both 
forms; e.g. The tree is growing. The trees are 
growing. 

(c) There is and there are in sentences. 

There is danger near. 
There are lions in the way. 

id) Hunting out the uses of is and are in the 
readers and other books. 

(e) The correct use of these forms in compositions 
and all written work. 

(/) The detection of violations of usage in oral 
work and out of school. 

The use of was and were with singular and plural 
subjects can be illustrated and applied in a similar 
manner. Mistakes in the use of these are quite as 
common as with is and are ; as, Mary and Anne was 
in the garden. You was told to return. 

Has been and have been often give rise to a similar 
error ; as, John and James has been to school. 

Irregular Verbs 

I have noticed that in your last written lesson 
several in the class made a wrong use of the words 
broke and spoke. 



IC>6 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

The corrected form of the sentences is as fol- 
lows : — 

The girl has spoken the truth. 
The window-pane was not broken. 

These are called irregular verbs, and we will 
consider their proper use. 

i. You may first make sentences with the words 
broke and spoke. 

" My father spoke to me." "What has your father 
done ? " " He has spoke to me." " That sounds 
wrong. Can you correct it ? " " My father has 
spoken to me." (Yes.) 

2. We will now observe more closely how these 
two words are used. 

Here are two sticks; tell me what I do to them. 
"You break them." (After breaking them.) "What 
did I do to them ?" " You broke the sticks." (Yes.) 

" Tell us now what I have done." " You have 
broken the sticks." " We have now used the word 
break in three different forms. What are they ? " 

Break broke broken 

I break the sticks. 
I broke the sticks. 
I have broken the sticks. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 107 

In the same way give sentences with the three 
forms of speak. 

The king speaks, The king spoke, and The king 
has spoken. 

3. You will notice that while these are called 
irregular verbs, they are very much alike. 

Speak spoke spoken 

Break broke broken 

You may recall also that the mistakes in their 
use were alike ; namely, the use of spoke for spoken, 
and broke for broken, and it will be easier to 
remember them together. 

4. By an examination of the mistakes you made in 
the use of these words you may tell which form you 
used incorrectly. You wrote " The stick was broke " 
and " The boy has spoke." What error do you need 
to avoid ? 

Do not use spoke for spoken or broke for broken. 
Especially is this the case with the third form, 
with has and have. 

5. The power to use these forms correctly may 
be tested by further examples. 

(a) Fill the blanks. The horse was well by 

his master. The boy said he had the truth. 



I08 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

(b) Make sentences containing broke, has spoken, 
break, had broken. 

{e) Further observation in the use of these words 
in the class room. 

It will be of interest in the future not only to 
notice the correct use of these two words, but to be 
on the lookout to see if there are other words, of 
the same class, in which a similar error occurs ; e.g. 
steal. Make three sentences. 

The robber steals the watch. 
The robber stole the watch. 
The robber has stolen the watch. 

Steal stole stolen 

By observing words in the readers and in other 
books, and in oral speech, you may notice other 
irregular verbs of this class. A short list is here 
given for the benefit of the teacher : — 



choose 


chose 


chosen 


drive 


drove 


driven 


forget 


forgot 


forgotten 


freeze 


froze 


frozen 


ride 


rode 


ridden 


write 


wrote 


written 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 



IO9 



shake 


shook 


shaken 


rise 


rose 


risen 


forsake 


forsook 


forsaken 


smite 


smote 


smitten 


tread 


trod 


trodden 



While these forms are not exactly alike, they 
are almost uniform, and the error made in their 
use is the same in all. 

By keeping the children on the track of this group 
of words during a term or more till the correct usage 
becomes established, a frequent source of error is 
shut off. 

Another group of irregular verbs that may be briefly 
studied in the same manner is the following : — 



bring 


brought 


brought 


buy 


bought 


bought 


catch 


caught 


caught 


think 


thought 


thought 


teach 


taught 


taught 


beseech 


besought 


besought 


fight 


fought 


fought 


seek 


sought 


sought 



Not much time need be spent on this group as 
there is not much chance for error in its use. 



110 



SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



Another group of words which is a common 
source of error and which requires careful atten- 
tion can well be worked out on the above plan. 
The group is as follows : — 



blow 


blew 


blown 


know 


knew 


known 


throw 


threw 


thrown 


grow 


grew 


grown 


slay 


slew 


slain 


fly 


flew 


flown 


bear 


bore 


borne 


tear 


tore 


torn 


swear 


swore 


sworn 



Still another group that may be gradually worked 
out as a group is as follows : — 



drink 


drank 


drunk 


sink 


sank 


sunk 


sing 


sang 


sung 


shrink 


shrank 


shrunk 


cling 


clung 


clung 


fling 


flung 


flung 


hang 


hung 


hung or hanged 


sling 


slung 


slung 


swing 


swung 


swung 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS III 

There are also a few of the most common irregu- 
lar verbs which are so irregular that they must be 
treated separately ; as the verbs, 

am was been 

come came come 

do did done 

eat ate eaten 

go went g one 

but wherever groups of similar mistakes can be 
detected, there will be a decided economy of effort, 
and the searching out of the words belonging to a 
group is a stimulative exercise for children. 

One caution, however, is necessary. Any one of 
these groups should be worked out in connection 
with common mistakes which are arising in various 
studies from day to day. It is not our intention 
that such groups should be worked out wholly inde- 
pendent of what is going on in the regular lessons, 
but in close relation to them and in fact built up 
out of the immediate language needs of the children. 

It is a curious thing that these natural and simple 
groupings of the irregularities in our language have 
been so little regarded in our teaching. It has 
been quite usual to treat each irregular verb as a 



\\2 SPECIAL METHOD IX LANGUAGE 

i 
whollv isolated lesson, and if there was any connec- 
tion with other similar forms, the children were 
often left to find it out for themselves, without 
guidance. 

A plan similar to that worked out above has been 
applied to the irregularities of plural formations, to 
adjectives and adverbs alarly formed, and in 

some degree to pronouns, as will bo illustrated 
later. 

It is b) taking' advantage of these short-cuts and 
economical groupings of difficulties that we may 
deliver the children to a considerable extent from 
that multitude of single items of knowledge, which 
threatens to overwhelm them. 

Pi . ns 

In the use oi personal pronouns there arc a few 
very common errors that should be corrected early 

in a child's life and the corrected phraseology worked 
into habit. 

The early stories told by the teacher and repro- 
duced by the children can do most to establish these 
habits in little children. 

With primary and intermediate children rules are 
of no value, and the correct forms must be estab- 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 113 

lished by attention to errors and frequent speeial 
exercises, somewhat as follows : — 

Some of the most common words like /, me, he, 
we, us, kim, and our, called pronouns, are often used 
wrongly. For example, one of the girls wished to 
say, " Mary and I were at the party," using me in- 
stead of /. One of the boys yesterday used him for 
he in this sentence, " He and John were fishing." 

We will notice the correct usage of such words 
in sentences. 

1. Give me some sentences using / or me. Edith 
says, " John and Mary and me were late at school." 
Instead of me use / and repeat the sentence. Other 
sentences are offered and approved or corrected 
by the teacher. The correct word emphasized by 
underlining. 

2. I will now give a few examples. 
John and / were studying. 

It was Lizzie and / who took the fruit. 

In such sentences me is often wrongly used 
instead of /. 

The word me, however, is a correct word when 
used in the right place. 

Father told John and vie to bring in the wood. 
The books were bought for Elizabeth and me. 



114 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

In these cases / is often wrongly used for me. 

3. It will be interesting to see whether by compar- 
ing these sentences and by giving others, the 
children will discover that in the first case the error 
lies in using me for / and in the second case in using 
/ for me. With younger children we cannot work 
out a rule for the use of / and me that will be of 
service to them. 

As in the case of irregular verbs a feeling in favor 
of the correct form can be established by repetitions 
and usage. The grammatical explanation is of no 
use before the grammar grades. 

4. Various applications in sentences should follow. 
(a) The use of / as part of the subject in sen- 
tences ; as, Henry and I are ready. 

{b) In predicates. It was Mary and I. 

(c) Sentences in the readers are pointed out 
where / and mc are correctly used ; perhaps copied. 

(d) Sentences with blanks for / and mc are given ; 
as, The candy was for Jane and . 

In addition to the use of / and me a lesson should 
be given in similar wise upon the use of Jic and him ; 
another upon we and us. 

The correct use of who and wJiom is worked out 
by a similar series of illustrations. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 115 

An interesting and useful lesson for children is 
found also in changing pronouns from singular to 
plural forms, as follows : — 

My desk is filled with my books. 
Our desks are filled with our books. 
The robin was feeding its young. 
The robins were feeding their young. 
I send my money to him. 
We send our money to them. 

No time should be wasted in drilling upon forms 
of expression in the use of pronouns or other words 
where mistakes are not likely to be made. No child 
will say " He told we," or " He told I to do it." 
Language lessons should be strictly limited to 
those words and expressions which demand drills 
so as to overcome positive faults, or what may easily 
become such. 

Homonyms 

Homonyms are regularly met with in all the 
grades, and frequent lessons are required to master 
them. 

They naturally interest the children both for their 
spellings and meanings and for the funny mistakes 
sometimes made by using the wrong word. 



Il6 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

The method of treatment is very simple. 

In the first year we must meet such words as eye 
and I ; son and sun ; to, two, and too ; meet and 
meat; fore and four. They may be treated some- 
what as follows : — 

In your reading lessons you found two words that 
were pronounced alike but had different meanings, and 
often a different spelling. What were they ? Sun 
and son. We will notice how to use them correctly. 

i. Put the following sentences on the board for 
the children to read : — 

The sun rose clear this morning. 
The clouds hid the sun. 
The king's son was lost. 
My son is coming home. 

2. Let the children give the meaning of each 
word with its spelling. 

3. Drills upon the use of the words may be made 
by having them printed on opposite sides of a card 
and by calling for sentences to illustrate the two 
forms. A word may be pronounced and the chil- 
dren asked to make sentences illustrating one or 
both uses. Written exercises based upon sentence- 
making are also helpful in fixing the forms. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 117 

In this way homonyms, as they are met with in 
the regular studies, can be handled two or three in 
a lesson, and occasionally a review drill upon the 
spellings and meanings of all such words previously 
studied may be appropriate. 

It is not well to anticipate the use of these words 
by drills upon them before one or both of them 
appear in regular lessons. 

A full list of the homonyms is given in the last 
chapter for the use of teachers. 

The gradual mastery and use of abbreviations may 
be worked out in a similar way, and applied in 
written work. 

With older children, exercises upon synonyms and 
antonyms furnish very interesting studies for a 
similar treatment, and the dictionary can be used to 
good advantage in tracing out words of similar or 
contrasted meanings. 

For example, 

1. Sullen, sour, ill-natured. 

2. Happy, joyful, glad. 

Introduction to a Composition 

What story or book have you heard or read lately 
which seemed specially interesting ? 



Il8 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

If it is a book or printed story, recall the title. 

Explain more fully what the whole story or book 
is about. 

It may be The King of the Golden River, Sindbad 
the Sailor, King Alfred and the Cakes, King Bruce 
and the Spider, or some newspaper or magazine 
story or anecdote. 

If you were rewriting the story from memory, 
could you note down first the chief parts or events. 

Call for an oral statement from one of the 
pupils giving a few main headings for his book or 
story.. 

Work out on the board three or four headings as 
an example of an outline for the writing which is to 
follow, for example : The Story of Siegfried. 

i. His childhood at home. 

2. His apprenticeship with the smith and the 
forging of the sword. 

3. His fight with the dragon. 

Are there any names in your story which you may 
not know how to spell ? 

Would you like to read the story again before try- 
ing to write upon it ? 

Each of you may now make a brief outline of two 
or three main topics in his story which he can then 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 119 

write about. As soon as your outline is ready I will 
examine it. 

Pass about the class examining and revising these 
outlines and as soon as the outline is satisfactory, set 
each one at work upon his own written statement. 
A complete outline of a long story is not needed, but 
enough points for a short paper, perhaps only intro- 
ducing the story. 

It is usually advisable to warn the children against 
two or three prevailing faults which you have 
noticed in their recent written work, as careless- 
ness in margins, broken and disconnected sen- 
tences, or grammatical errors, as in the use of 
adverbs. 

The whole purpose of this preparatory work is to 
revive an interest in some familiar subject, and to 
point out the way so clearly that the children may 
enter upon their writing with zeal and confidence. 

A Written Lesson from an Outline in History 

If the story of the trip to California from Chicago 
in 1849 has been worked out in oral lessons in 
history and in oral reproductions, an outline of the 
whole should be at hand, about as follows : — 

1. The discovery of gold in California. Map. 



120 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

2. Preparations for the journey by the young men 
who start from Chicago in the spring of 1849. 

3. Incidents on the trip from Chicago to Council 
Bluffs on the Missouri River. 

4. The march across the plains. Hunting the 
buffalo, and affair with the Indians. 

5. Crossing the Rocky Mountains at South Pass. 

6. From the Green River to Salt Lake. 

7. Journey across the desert and surprise by the 
Indians. 

8. Journey on foot to California and crossing the 
Sierras. 

9. Reaching the gold mines. 

10. Great immigration to California in 1849 both 
overland and by sea. 

11. Results of this influx of people into Cali- 
fornia. 

In using this story and outline as the basis of com- 
position only a part of it can be taken for a single 
lesson, as the first three topics, or the last three, or 
some other connected parts. 

If it is required to write out the whole story as a 
complete unit of thought, several lessons should be 
given to its execution. If the first three topics are 
chosen, it is helpful to have the children give a short 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 121 

oral statement of the chief parts in each topic so as 
to call them to mind preparatory to writing. 

Any geographical names which may bother them 
may be called up and written on the board ; as, Cali- 
fornia, Mississippi, Missouri, Council Bluffs. Any 
difficult and unusual words necessary to the story 
may also be placed on the board and the spelling 
noted; as, ammunition, medicine, ferry, navigable, 
preparation, baggage, etc. 

Before setting the children at the task of writing, 
suggest some motive for excellence of work as a 
stimulus to effort ; as, that you wish to have some of 
the papers read at the Friday afternoon exercises, or 
to compare with their previous papers on file, or that 
you wish to send some of the compositions home to 
the parents as a sample of the school work. 

Having thus tried to set up a good standard and 
to awaken an impulse to reach it, a few cautions may 
be given how to avoid some of their recent errors in 
composition ; e.g. : — 

(a) Let each of the three topics form a distinct 
paragraph, thus breaking up the lesson into main 
parts. 

(b) Do not make long and difficult sentences, but 
let each one be simple and clear. This point may be 



122 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

illustrated from their last preceding papers, from 
which a long and somewhat confused sentence is put 
on the board and broken up into two or more simple 
statements. 

(c) After one full writing the geographical names 
may be abbreviated, as, Cal., Miss., etc. 

(d) Be careful of spelling and use the dictionary 
in doubtful cases, or ask the teacher, if he is not 
otherwise busy. 

It is not well to give many cautions in a lesson 
as they cannot be remembered. 

Wherever it is possible, it is desirable that the 
teacher give attention to the pupils while they are 
engaged in writing these papers. In most cases 
it is not possible because the teacher is engaged 
with another class. But occasionally the teacher 
may find time to supervise the writing itself. Where 
this is possible he can encourage helpless pupils, 
check up careless scribblers, and enforce the special 
points to which he has just called attention. In the 
midst of the production of compositions there are 
excellent opportunities for showing children how to 
use the dictionary and thus learn to help themselves. 

When the papers are handed in, a good share if 
not all should be carefully examined and judged by 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 123 

the teacher. If this is too much work for the 
teacher, the compositions might be shortened or 
reduced in number and frequency. It is not pos- 
sible to get good composition work without careful 
correction and timely discussion and revision of 
the work criticised. It is difficult to see how a 
mere repetition of careless exercises can lead to 
improvement. 

The chief points to be enforced in criticising 
papers are those which were emphasized as cautions 
just before the writing began ; e.g. the paragraphing, 
the confused sentence construction, the spelling, 
and abbreviations. Other corrections are made, but 
they are incidental. The blackboard should be used 
freely both by teacher and pupils in amending the 
sentences, words, or paragraphs which are under 
discussion. 

On the whole it seems better not to rewrite a com- 
position, though cases doubtless arise where that 
is necessary, as with extremely negligent children. 
Wherever motive can be put behind the work which 
causes the children themselves to be anxious to 
rewrite and secure a better form, complete revision 
is the best thing. If children are writing a letter, 
for instance, which they are anxious to get into 



124 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

better form before sending, or if the essay is one 
that the pupils wish to improve for a public reading, 
their own impulse will lead them to the labor of 
revision. To stimulate this kind of motive is one 
of the great things in teaching. 

Introduction to the Use of the Dictionary 

In fifth and sixth grades the dictionary should 
come into easy use by the children. A few lan- 
guage lessons carefully devoted to teaching its use 
are necessary. 

A good opening for this sort of training is offered 
in introducing children to a new piece of literature in 
the reading lessons. 

In the fifth grade, for example, we frequently use 
Macaulay's " Horatius at the Bridge " for reading 
lessons. But in the first part of the ballad the great 
number of unfamiliar names and words interferes 
with the reading. At this point the language lesson 
might step in and relieve the reading by giving a 
few exercises in dictionary work upon these diffi- 
culties. 

As a basis for such an exercise the following list 
of words from the first ten or twelve stanzas is 
given : — 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 



125 



Lars Porsena 


trysting 


Clusium 


array 


Tarquin 


amain 


Etruscan 


hamlet 


Apennine 


sentinels 


Volaterrae 


descry ■ 


Sardinia 


mart 


Pisae 


triremes 


Clitumnus 


diadem 


Arretium 


stags 


Luna 


champ 


Umbro 


fowler 


Volsinian 


must 


Populonia 


sires 


Massilia 


mere 



In teaching the use of the dictionary specific and 
well-planned exercises are necessary. 

Many children do not know the letters of the 
alphabet in order, nor how to use them, when 
learned, in tracing out words in the dictionary. 

Where is the word trysting (placed on the board 
by the teacher) found in the dictionary ? Why at 
the last end of the book? 

When t is found in the dictionary, is trysting at 



126 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

the beginning or toward the end of words beginning 
with tf Not being familiar with dictionaries chil- 
dren know little or nothing of these things. When 
they find the word trysting, it has no marks of 
pronunciation. It stands — try sting. Just above it 
is the word tryst, and just after this {trist) in paren- 
thesis. What does this mean? But the boy cannot 
interpret trist. It is necessary to explain the dia- 
critical marking. (It is often necessary to give a 
series of lessons on the phonetic sounds — vowels, 
consonants, and diphthongs — and their markings in 
the dictionary. This should come early and in 
connection with dictionary exercises.) 

The definition in this case is " an appointment 
or tryst." (Not very intelligible.) But below is 
"trysting day," an arranged day of meeting. So 
at last we have the pronunciation and the meaning. 

Every step of this process of looking for the 
meaning and pronunciation is difficult and confus- 
ing to beginners. But under careful guidance the 
children will soon learn to work independently. 

In looking for proper names it is necessary to 
show the children how to use the list of classical 
and historical names in the appendix to the dic- 
tionary. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 12 J 

Other words should be traced out in a similar 
way, the children working under the direction of 
the teacher. 

If each child has a small dictionary, the work 
can progress more rapidly. 

The blackboard must be used freely to illustrate 
markings, syllables, and accent. In the phonetic 
exercises single and concert drills are valuable in 
establishing correct pronunciations. 

As in the study of Horatius so in other literary 
products used in reading, there will be ample 
opportunity to use the dictionary. In Irving's 
"Rip Van Winkle" and "Sleepy Hollow," for 
example, the style is at first difficult because of 
unusual words and somewhat stilted phraseology. 
Here the dictionary must be resorted to and the 
children should be systematically trained to its use. 

In composition work generally, children should 
be steadily encouraged in the use of the dictionary, 
as it is the best means of training them to self- 
help and to correct habits in spelling and pronun- 
ciation, i As much can be done in this way for 
spelling as in spelling exercises. 



128 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

Derivatives 

In connection with the history of language and 
closely related to the uses of the dictionary a series 
of lessons on the derivation of words should be 
distributed through the grammar grades. They 
are easily interesting to children because they offer 
such rich and not difficult avenues of investiga- 
tion. Prefixes and suffixes and the various turns 
and modifications of a root-word give a whole 
family of curious meanings. 

Fortunately the simplest common Anglo-Saxon 
and Latin root-words are those most attractive for 
study, as head, headship, behead, headless, heady, 
headway, headstrong, headache, headlight, head- 
quarters, headstone, headsman, headgear. 

In introducing such lessons, one or two exam- 
ples can first be worked out by way of illustration, 
and later the class members can be set to work on 
different root-words to gather up the varied derivations. 

For example, let us gather up the derivatives 
of port. 

i. What can you mention? Port, portable, por- 
ter, import, importation, exportation, report, deport, 
deportment, portal (given by class). 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 120, 

How are these words formed from the original 
port? By prefixing and adding syllables (pre- 
fixes and suffixes). Do you know the root-word 
and from what language it comes ? 

2. The word is of Latin origin. By examining 
the dictionary you will find the Latin porta, a 
gate, and the Latin portarc, meaning, to carry. In 
a Latin dictionary you will find that the original 
root is por ; porta is an entrance way through which 
goods are borne. 

In addition to the words given above you may 
find by further thought or by consulting the dic- 
tionary such words as the following : portage, 
port-hole, portly, portliness, reimport, reexport, be- 
sides certain geographical names, as the Porte 
(Constantinople), Oporto, Porto Rico, Port Said, 
Portland, Newport. 

3. Examine the above words to see how many 
parts of speech are found among them ; as, port 
(a noun), import (a verb), portly (an adjective), the 
Porte (a proper noun), port-hole (a compound 
noun). 

Notice also the different kinds of prefixes and 
suffixes ; as, im, reim, de, ex (both simple and com- 
pound); -ness, -ly, -age, -ation, -able, etc. (suffixes). 

K 



150 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

4. Similar root-words can be taken up bv the 
different children, and the derivative words gathered 
and classified. 

For example, such words as scribe, fit, horse, 
man, force, see, fact, habit, make, work, run, light, 
trust, iron, talk, etc. 

Such study as the above illustrates and works 
out clearly the sources and historv of language ; 
it teaches children to discriminate shades and 
variations in meaning, every word is an interest- 
ing field of investigation ; the dictionary and other 
reference books are used and made familiar ; and 
many important facts of grammar and correct 
usage are suggested. 

Analysis of Sentences 

We have often spoken of sentences, and it is 
worth while to find out what we mean by a sen- 
tence and what goes to the make-up of a sen- 
tence. 

1. You may give me some examples of sen- 
tences. (As the children furnish such expressions 
as the following, let the teacher write them on the 
board.) Our rose-bush is growing fast. The sun 
is clouded. The type-writer is broken. The dan- 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS I 3 I 

delions in the meadow. The horses drinking at 
the trough. The robin sings in the maple. 

Are these sentences ? Why ? How can you tell a 
sentence ? 

2. Two of the above expressions are not sentences. 
Can you pick them out ? A sentence must express 
a complete thought, but two of the above are incom- 
plete. They do not make any positive statement 
about anything. Some child may answer, " I 
think it is ' The dandelions in the meadow.' ' Why 
do you object to this ? It does not tell anything 
about dandelions. Docs it not describe them as 
"in the meadow"? Yes. But you are right, this is 
no statement. We could as well say, " The meadow 
dandelions," which is merely the name of something. 
How can you change "The dandelions in the 
meadow " into a sentence ? Tell something about 
the dandelions. " The dandelions grow in the 
meadow." Yes, that makes the sentence complete. 
What other expression given above is not a complete 
sentence ? 

If the class fails to detect it, let them examine the 
following, "The horses drinking at the well." 

This is not a sentence. Make it into one. A 
child says, " The horses are drinking at the well." 



[32 SPECIAL METHOD IX LANGUAGE 

That is right. Why is it a sentence now ? Because 
it tells something about the horses. 

Now in the five sentences we will pick out the 
main ideas or elements. In the first, " Our 
rose-bush is growing fast," what are the two chief 
ideas ? 

The first is expressed by rose-bush, the second by 
is growing. Yes, and the words our and fast are 
merely explanatory of the main ideas. 

In the sentence, " The horses are drinking at the 
trough," there seem to be three important things, 
(i) The horses, (2) are drinking, (3) at the trough. 
Leave off the third part — " The horses are drinking." 
Is this a complete sentence ? Yes. The third part, 
at the trough, merely explains the rest of the 
sentence. 

Analyze the last sentence, "The robin sings in 
the maple," in the same way. 

Examine the following sentences from " Grand- 
father's Chair " : — 

The boat's crew proceeded to the reef of rocks. 

They gazed down into the water. 

Captain Phipps was troubled. 

A stream of silver dollars gushed out upon the 
deck of the vessel. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 1 33 

See if each of the above is a complete sentence 
and tell why. 

3. By comparing all the sentences given above we 
may find that they are all alike in certain respects. 
Each sentence has two principal parts, and without 
one of these chief parts we fail to have a complete 
sentence. 

4. You may remember that we have sometimes 
called these two chief parts of a sentence by a 
familiar name. What are they ? (Subject and predi- 
cate.) By an examination of the sentences again 
we may detect just what we mean by a subject and 
predicate. 

Go through the sentences again and show which is 
the subject and which the predicate in each case. 

What is the relation of the subject to the predicate 
in each case ? You notice at least that together 
they make a complete thought, but separately they 
do not. 

What is the business of the predicate in each case 
as related to the subject ? It tells something about 
the subject. 

The subject, on the other hand, as rose-bush, sun, 
type-writer, dandelions, horses, and robin, is that 
about which the predicate tells something. 



134 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

On the basis of these examples we may form some 
sort of definition of a sentence ; namely, " The 
sentence consists of a subject and predicate." And 
joined together for what purpose ? " To express 
a complete thought." Or we may state it thus. A 
sentence is the expression of a complete thought by 
means of a subject and predicate. In these sen- 
tences we found other words besides subject and 
predicate, and these we will discuss at a future time. 

5. In the following sentences you may pick out 
the subjects and predicates : — 

Longfellow wrote " 1 liawatha." The civil war was 
long and destructive. The early explorers were 
hardy men. 

Under a spreading chestnut tree, 
The village smithy stands. 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth. 

To give further application to this simple idea of 
the sentence choose some simple story and pick out 
the subjects and predicates of the simpler state- 
ments, not at first the complex and compound 
sentences. 

With growing experience inverted sentences can 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 1 35 

be more easily untangled. Complex and compound 
sentences should be given a separate treatment. 
Complete lessons on the modifiers of subject and 
predicate may also be worked out on a plan similar 
to that above. 

/ \ rsonal Pronouns 

We have had occasion to speak of the use of pro- 
nouns for the sake of convenience, and have noticed 
that pronouns are commonly substituted for nouns. 
There is one group of pronouns which we will now 
examine more closely ; namely, the personal pronouns. 

1. In the following sentences pick out the pro- 
nouns so far as you can : But the prince would not 
go home to his father without his brothers, and 
said, " Dear dwarf, can you tell me where my two 
brothers are that we may find them ? They went 
out before I did in search of the water of life, and 
have not come back to our hut." 

" They are in prison between the mountains," 
said the dwarf ; " I have made them stay there be- 
cause they were so proud." Then the prince 
begged till the dwarf set them free ; but he said 
to the prince, " Beware of your brothers, for they 
have bad hearts." 



SPECIAL I ) :\ I ANGUAGE 

(The above sentences can be placed opoi 

the class.) Each of you 
e on -- slip such pronouns as 

you find. 

2. These lists .ire then .: in, and the 

teacher says, " I will read you, now, one of 
lists, .is follows — his. where, they, I are, 

I. back. he. Several of these are oed 

pronouns, but three I them .. c Dot ans. 

Which three?" (Where, before^ and back.) 

All the pi s In the . are then 

brought together after some questioning and ar- 
ranged by the teacher, in three groups, as fol- 
lows : — 

I he (she) (it) 

my you (thou) his (her) (its) 

me your (thine) him 

we (our) (thee) they (their) 

(us) (ye) them 

(Those in parenthesis are worked in later, as 
indicated below.") 

By an examination of these words we may be 
able to say why they are called pronouns. 

By examining the three lists do you detect the 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS 1 37 

reason ? They are personal because they usually 
refer to persons. In the passage given what persons 
are referred to by the pronouns? The prince and 
his brothers and the dwarf. 

3. You will see by the grouping that is made 
above that these pronouns fall into three groups. 
Examine these groups and find out what to call 
each group. They are sometimes called pronouns 
of the first, second, and third person. Why so ? 

4. Can you define each group ? The first group 
evidently refers to persons who are speaking of 
themselves (I and me), the second, those to whom 
we are speaking, and the others, to a third party 
mentioned. 

The grammars usually say that pronouns of the 
first person represent the speaker, of the second 
person, the one spoken to, and the third person 
the one spoken of. 

You may notice perhaps that none of these 
groups is complete. What pronoun of the first 
person can you add to the list ? (Us.) There are 
two other pronouns of the second person, not, 
however, used often, as in the sentences, " Thou 
art welcome," and " Blessed are ye when men 
shall revile you." (Thou and thine and ye.) 



I38 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

In the third group, there are several to be 
added, as in the sentence, " She told her mother 
that the moon had lost its brightness and the 
stars their beauty." (She, her, its, their.) 

By adding him and thee we have the list of 
personal pronouns complete. 

5. To form a full acquaintance with personal 
pronouns, a variety of applications is necessary. 
Take, for example, any good piece of dialogue, 
in the fairy stories, in "Cricket on the Hearth," or in 
"The Wonder Book," and pronouns are numerous. 

The following short passage from " Pilgrim's 
Progress " will serve as illustration : — 

World. — How now, good fellow, whither away 
after this burdened manner? 

Christian. — A burdened manner indeed, as ever 
I think poor creature had. And whereas you ask 
me Whither away, I tell you, Sir, I am going to 
yonder wicket gate before me; for there, as I am 
informed, I shall be put into a way to be rid of 
my heavy burden. 

World. — Hast thou a wife and children ? 

Christian. — Yes, but I am so laden with this 
burden, that I cannot take that pleasure in them 
as formerly. Methinks I am as if I had none. 



ILLUSTRATIVE LESSONS I 39 

World. — Wilt thou hearken unto me, if I give 
thee counsel ? 

Christian. — If it be good, I will ; for I stand 
in need of good counsel. 

A somewhat similar mode of treatment can be 
applied to other groups of pronouns, also to 
groups of nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, etc. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Course of Study 

First Grade 

i. Exercises preliminary to the formal language 
work. 

{a) Stories from good literature, presented orally 
and reproduced by the children ; e.g. such stories 
as The Three Bears, The Ugly Duckling, The 
Discontented Pine Tree. 

(b) Nature-study observations of plants and 
flowers, squirrels, butterflies, bumblebees. Work in 
the garden or excursions to the fields and woods. 
All these, after they have become familiar in nature 
study, may be used for short language lessons. 

2. Drawing pictures and writing words and short 
sentences to illustrate stories such as The Old 
Woman and the Pig, Cinderella, Hiawatha, The 
Apple Tree Branch. 

3. Descriptions of good pictures by the children. 
A picture often suggests a story, or a scene in a 
story. By suggestion the teacher may get good 

140 



COURSE OF STUDY I4I 

responses. In De Garmo's " Language Lessons," 
Book I, are many illustrations. 

4. Copying of words and very simple sentences 
chosen by the teacher from the reading or other 
lessons. Let the children's writing at the board be 
large and free. Very simple sentences current in 
the other lessons may be dictated by the teacher. 

5. Exercises in the use of a and an with nouns : 
an apple, an orange, an eagle, a tree, a man, etc. 
(Not much time needed.) 

6. Use of common verbs to agree with singular 
and plural nouns as subjects ; as, is and are, was and 
were ; e.g. The four musicians were singing. Note 
also the correct use of there is and there are in 
sentences ; as, There are dangers by the way. In 
this kind of work very brief exercises are needed, 
but constant watchfulness to secure correct usage in 
all lessons. (See chapter of Illustrative Lessons.) 

7. The use of correct forms of personal pronouns 
as subjects and objects in sentences; e.g. Mary 
and I were playing. Philip and I sat together. 
Tell John and me the story. No reasons are 
assigned, but the correct form given and required 
till use is settled. (See chapter of Illustrative 
Lessons.) 



142 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

8. Correct and avoid the use of aiiit, have got, and 
had ought. In correcting, use the proper forms 
and keep them before the children ; e.g. The fir tree 
isn't large. You ought not to go. Ought they not 
to speak quietly? 

9. Teach the proper use and spelling of the 
following homonyms : — 

hear — here to — too — two 

write — right know — no 

eye — I there — their 

hour — our be — bee 
son — sun 

Various devices may be used in drilling upon 
these words. Use cards with the words and call for 
meanings or sentences. (See chapter of Illustrative 
Lessons.) 

10. Abbreviations. 

Use Mr., Mrs., Dr., and St. Write on the board 
short phrases and sentences with these abbrevia- 
tions ; as, Mr. and Mrs. Ball. 

11. Use of the period in sentences and abbrevia- 
tions ; also the question mark, the possessive form 
with apostrophe, and capitals. 

Notice frequently the use of these marks in 



COURSE OF STUDY I43 

the book and in board work as a preparation for 
use. 

12. Spelling. 

Have frequent exercises in the written spelling 
of words occurring in the reading, nature study, and 
other lessons. Select at first the most common 
words. For seat work copy such lists. 

13. Writing. 

(a) Observation of teacher's written work at the 
board and frequent exercises in this free-hand board 
work largely in imitation of the teacher. 

{b) Copying of words and sentences placed on 
the board by the teacher. 

(c) Copying short exercises from the first reader. 

(d) Copying memorized selections and short 
passages from memory. 

Apply spelling and punctuation to all these 
written exercises. 

While these are called formal language lessons, 
they should be as informal as may be. 

Children should be encouraged to freedom and 
confidence in speaking and writing. The necessary 
corrections and drills should be kept within the 
channels of spontaneous activity. As Mr. O. T. Bright 
says : " Children in the first grade cannot study. 



144 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

They want something to do." The blackboard and 
the seat work should be the outlet for this natural 
impulse. 

Second Grade 

i. Use of this and that, these and those; as, this 
kind of apples, that sort of men ; these kinds of 
cloth, those sorts of people. 

Correct and avoid such expressions as, these kind, 
those sort, them kind, and them boys. 

2. Correct Use of Adverbs. 

Slowly, quickly, well ; e.g. He is working slowly. 
John acts quickly. The boys are writing well. 

Show the proper use of corresponding adjectives : 
slow work, good writing, quick action. 

Correct such expressions 'as, He is running slow. 
Mary wrote good. John speaks rapid. 

3. The use of correct forms of pronouns after is 
and was ; also after verbs and prepositions ; e.g. It is 
/. The candy is for Mary and vie. It was she that 
rode past. It was they who laughed. It is we that 
are to blame. 

Correct such errors as the following : He told John 
and I to return. It was Mary and me. It was you 
who was talking. 



COURSE OF STUDY 145 

4. Practise upon the following homonyms : — 

meat — meet aunt — ant ate — eight 

buy — by flower — flour grate — great 

knew — new sea — see sent — cent 

steal — steel tail — tale 

Bring into these exercises any other homonyms 
that appear in the regular studies of the grade. 

Notice the widely different meanings and make 
simple sentences showing their proper use ; as, The 
grate was broken. Great trouble came to him. 

5. Use of Comparatives and Superlatives in adjec- 
tives; as, taller and tallest. I have the larger book (of 
the two). Edith is the tallest girl in school. Avoid 
the use of the superlative in comparison of two 
persons or things. 

6. Correct use of 

Learn and teach ; as, Teach me the lesson. 

Dont and doesn't ; as, John doesn't know his 
lesson. 

Off and of; as, Clear off the top of the table. 

Shall and will in simple cases ; as, Shall I come ? 
not, Will I come ? 

Avoid also the wrong use of can ; as, Can I do it ? 
Can we play with the dolls ? 



I46 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

7. A bbrcvia tions. 

Review those of first grade and add the following : 
ct., doz. Abbreviations of names of days of the 
week and months of the year. Apply these abbre- 
viations to other studies and add to the list others 
used in any school work of this grade. 

8. Use of Capital Letters. 

In beginning sentences and in proper names. 

The first word in lines of poetry and in direct 
quotations. 

In dates, days of the week, months, and in ad- 
dresses and titles. 

Let each child learn to write his own name and 
address. 

In all the written work of the school apply the 
correct usage of capitals and abbreviations. 

9. Copy carefully memorized verses and proverbs 
with attention to capitals, punctuation, and spelling. 

10. Use of Quotation Marks. 

Give examples of quotations and their markings, 
using familiar passages in literature, poems, etc. 

Use of the comma in series and in addresses. 

Notice in the readers used the different marks of 
punctuation ; as, question mark, period, comma, and 
quotation marks. 



COURSE OF STUDY I47 



Apply 


these 


to written 


work at board and on 


paper. 












11. 


Make a 


study of 


the 


following irregular 


verbs : 


— 










break 






broke 




broken 


begin 






began 




begun 


come 






came 




come 


drink 






drank 




drunk or drunken 


do 






did 




done 


sing 






sang, sung 


sung 


eat 
go 






ate 
went 




eaten 
gone 


see 






saw 




seen 


sit 






sat 




sat 


tear 






tore 




torn 


teach 






taught 




taught 


write 






wrote 




written 


speak 






spoke 




spoken 


lie 






lay 




lain 



The above are given as some of the most com- 
mon and involve many of the more frequent errors. 

In practising the correct use of irregular verbs we 
may aim directly at these errors. 

One of the most common faults is in confusing 



I48 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

and interchanging the past tense and past parti- 
ciple. 

Interesting and lively exercises may be devised for 
illustrating the uses of such verbs. First ask the 
question. What did you drink ? I drank a glass of 
water. What have you done with the milk? I 
have drunk it. 

Devise various questions for bringing out the dif- 
ferent forms ; thus : Use have or had with the 
verb break. Use the word break with yesterday or 
to-morrow. (See chapter of Illustrative Lessons.) 

12. Written Language. 

Parts of the Robinson Crusoe or Hiawatha stories 
or nature-study lessons furnish good thought- 
material for sentence work at the board. 

New and difficult words from any of the lessons 
may be placed on the board and made the basis of 
written sentence work. 

In written language work there are many devices 
for reviewing previous lessons. 

(a) Sentences are asked for containing the forms of 
irregular verbs or pronouns, adjectives and adverbs. 

(b) Such sentences as the following may be 
changed throughout to the plural form : The boy 
that is riding his wheel has lost his way. 



COURSE OF STUDY I49 

(c) Sentences with blanks are to be filled out and 

copied ; as, The boy is than his sister and 

than his brother. 

(d) Short stories may be written from memory 
after a series of sentences containing the story has 
been placed on the board, examined, and erased. 

(e) Dictation exercises given by the teacher may 
, test many forms of words, punctuation, spelling, and 

abbreviations. 

In all the work of second grade the sentences used 
should be short and simple, the exercises brief and 
varied. Let the children use the crayon or pencil 
freely with a large movement. 





Third Grade 




1. Irregular 


Verbs. 




choose 


chose 


chosen 


fly 


flew 


flown 


freeze 


froze 


frozen 


give 


gave 


given 


get 


got 


gotten or got 


ride 


rode 


ridden 


rise 


rose 


risen 


ring 


rang, rung 


rung 


steal 


stole 


stolen 



I50 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



take 


took 


taken 


wear 


wore 


worn 


throw 


threw 


thrown 


burst 


burst (bursted) 


burst (bursted) 


dig 


dug (digged) 


dug (digged) 


sing 


sang, sung 


sung 


stay 


staid, stayed 


staid, stayed 



win won won 

Make sentences to .illustrate the different forms. 
Use these verbs also with adverbs. 

2. Illustrate the use of the apostrophe with the 
possessive singular and plural ; e.g. boys' hats. 
Examine the readers for examples of the use of the 
apostrophe with possessives. 

Dictate written phrases and sentences in the use 
of the possessive ; as, John's knife, Mary's doll, 
Charles' books. 

3. Abbreviations. 

Capt, Col., P.M., A.M., Rev., P.O., P.S., isn't, 
hasn't, don't, and other contractions. 

Use these abbreviations and contractions in sen- 
tences and apply them to written work. 

Review the abbreviations of first and second 
grade. 



COURSE OF STUDY I 5 I 

4. Writing Letters. 

Introduce the children to letter-writing to friends. 

Direct them to the preparation of letters to be sent 
by mail. 

Short, but neat, and accurate in punctuation, 
capitals, etc. 

Work out a full letter at the board, selecting topics 
that interest children. 

5. Short Written Exercises (on the blackboard) 
drawn 

(a) from nature-study lessons and excursions; 

{b) from home geography descriptions ; 

(c) from stories in literature; as, the Greek and 
Norse myths. 

Apply previous lessons on capitals, punctuation, 
and spelling. 

6. Study the following homonyms : — 

rode — road — rowed pair — pear — pare 

sail — sale pail — pale weak — week 

berry — bury whole — hole won — one 

hair — hare bough — bow forth — fourth 

idle — idol heal — heel him — hymn 

A few of the drills in working with homonyms 
may be suggested as follows : — 



152 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

(a) Give out the words orally and call for sen- 
tences illustrating the different uses. 

(b) Pronounce the words and call for spelling 
and explanation of meanings. 

(c) Write the words upon cards and let the chil- 
dren interpret them at sight. 

(d) Recall curious mistakes in the use of homo- 
nyms. 

7. Short Written Papers. 

First work out with the children a series of 
simple sentences from a familiar story or nature 
lesson. Place these sentences on the board and 
examine the spelling, capitals, and punctuation. 

In the first efforts of children such sentences 
may be copied from the board. Later they may 
be reproduced in substance from memory. 

8. Correct the following common errors in 
speech : — 

{a) The relative and interrogative pronouns who 
and whom ; as, Whom did you meet ? instead of, 
Who did you meet ? Whom did you call for ? etc. 

(b) Each and every one, either and neither. These 
words are often wrongly used with a plural verb ; 
as, every one of the boys are present. Neither of 
those flowers are beautiful. 



COURSE OF STUDY 1 53 

(c) Review the use of may and can, shall and 
wilL 

id) Review the personal pronouns / and me, 
we and us with verbs. 

9. The correct use of predicate adjectives in- 
stead of adverbs after seem, appear, smell, taste, 
and feel ; as, The apple tastes good (not well). 
I feel bad (not badly). The fruit smells sweet 
(not sweetly). 

In correcting all these common errors of speech 
it is advantageous to keep a list of the correct 
phrases and sentences on the blackboard before 
the eyes of the children for a period of time, with 
occasional drills or references to them for the sake 
of emphasis. 

10. Spelling. 

Make out lists of new or difficult words for 
spelling exercises taken from the stories, reading, 
nature study, and geography. 

(a) Such lists, placed on the board, may be 
used for pronunciation and copying till they are 
familiar. 

(b) Pronounce such words for oral spelling. 

(c) Dictate such words singly or in sentences for 
written work. 



154 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

ii. Write familiar poems from memory. Apply 
the previous lessons on punctuation. Before writ- 
ing study the punctuation, capitals, and spelling of 
such passages in the original. 

12. Simple Contractions. 

I'll, I'm, isn't, aren't, hasn't, can't, you'll, it's, 
I've, there's, and others. 

E.g. I'll go if it isn't too late. 

Give many illustrations till the forms are known. 

Dictate sentences for writing, involving these forms. 

Examine in dialogue and dramatic stories the 
frequent use of these abbreviated forms. 

Fourth Grade 

I. Composition. 

Careful work in simple composing can be under- 
taken in this grade. 

(a) The outlines previously made out in the oral 
treatment of history stories and geography topics 
and nature study supply a good basis for short 
compositions. Two or three topics of an outline 
may be worked out in distinct paragraphs with 
proper attention to margins, indentation, capitals, 
and punctuation. (See chapter of Illustrative 
Lessons.) 



COURSE OF STUDY 1 55 

{b) Greater freedom in making outlines and in 
composing can be allowed in writing descriptions 
of personal experiences of children upon excur- 
sions and picnics. 

After looking over such papers the teacher 
should use the blackboard freely in revising errors 
of sentence construction, choice of words, para- 
graphing, spelling, and markings. 

For further suggestions of method see chapter 
of Illustrative Lessons. 

2. (a) The correct uses of who, which, and that 
as relative pronouns. 

E.g. The lady whom we met is sick. The boy 
that (or who) was here is very bright. The sheep 
that (or which) was in the pasture is lost. 

(&) The proper use of in and into in sentences ; 
e.g. Tom fell into the pond. The boat was in the 
water. 

(c) Illustrate the use of the possessive singular 
and plural of nouns ; as, The dog's ears, Charles' hat. 

3. Homonyms. 

ball — bawl choir — quire gait — gate 

hall — haul peace — piece seen — scene 

false — faults flea — flee heard — herd 

oar — o'er — ore waist — waste 



I56 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

Study the meanings of these words and illustrate 
their use in sentences. 

Give a series of lessons in the spelling and mean- 
ings of homonyms, including those studied in the 
earlier grades. 

4. Develop from numerous examples the chief 
rules for forming the plurals of nouns. 

(a) Cases in which s is added; as, horse — horses; 
cat — cats ; bonnet — bonnets. 

(b) Adding es\ as, box — boxes; grass — grasses; 
church — churches. 

{c) Changing f to v and adding es\ as, leaf — 
leaves ; half — halves. 

As a basis for deriving these rules make long lists 
of illustrations of each group from familiar words. 

In applying the rules, (a) dictate words and call 
for both forms ; {b) change all the words in a given 
sentence or paragraph to the corresponding singular 
or plural. 

5. Abbreviations as follows : etc., sec, min., hr., in., 
ft., qt., pt, gal, bbl., U.S., D.C., R.R., Dr., Amt. 

Add to this list the abbreviations that spring 
up in any of the studies and a review of those in 
previous grades. 

6. Avoid the following incorrect usages, like for 



COURSE OF STUDY 



157 



as; e.g., He plays as Henry does. Without for 
unless ; e.g., Do not go unless your father permits 
(not, without your father permits). Good ways 
or long ways for long way ; e.g. George is a long way 
from home (not, long ways). Some for somewhat ; 
e.g. He is somewhat deaf (not, some deaf). 
7. Irregular Verbs. 



see 


saw 


seen 


come 


came 


come 


dp 


did 


done 


go 


went 


gone 


take 


took 


taken 


sit 


sat 


sat 


set 


set 


set 


lay 


laid 


laid 


shake 


shook 


shaken 



Review the uses of there is and there are, there was 
and there were. 

8. Punctuation. 

Observe the use of various punctuation marks in 
the readers, arithmetics, and other books. 

Notice the uses of the exclamation point, quotation 
marks, the comma in series, addresses, and in setting 
off clauses and phrases. 



158 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

Apply these punctuation marks in written work. 

9. Contractions. 

O'clock, 'tis, it's, I've, ne'er, he's, shouldn't, 
couldn't, shan't, won't, wouldn't, can't, what's, 
that's. 

10. Introduction to the use of the Dictionary. 
Mastery of the alphabet in order. 

How to trace up words in the dictionary. 

The markings of vowels, diphthongs, and conso- 
nants in the dictionary. 

Syllabification and accent. 

The interpretation of definitions to fit the con- 
text. 

Systematic lessons are needed, 

(a) in the correct pronunciation of vowel sounds ; 

(J?) on the diacritical markings in the dictionary ; 

(c) upon well-selected words for dictionary study. 

(See chapter of Illustrative Lessons.) 

11. Synonyms and Antonyms ; e.g. large — big — 
great; little — small — diminutive; angry — vexed — 
indignant ; liberty — slavery or bondage ; proud — 
humble ; strong — weak. 

Frame sentences showing these similar and con- 
trasted meanings. 

12. Correction of common errors heard outside of 



COURSE OF STUDY 1 59 

the school ; e.g. ain't, seen for saw, done for did, yon 
was for you were, she don't for she doesn't, as lives 
for as lief. 

Keep the correct forms before the eyes and in the 
hearing of pupils as much as possible. 

13. Spelling of new and difficult words gathered 
from the lessons in history, geography, reading, 
nature study, and arithmetic. 

Use the lists of words derived from these studies 
for dictionary work and for spelling. 

14. Make a free but informal use of the terms 
verb, noun, and names of other parts of speech in 
etymology; also subject, predicate, and modifier 
without formal definition, as occasion naturally arises 
in all studies. 

Fifth Grade 
Preliminaries to Language in Fifth Grade 

Efficient use of language depends chiefly upon the 
constant attention given to correct speech and 
written work in the other studies. 

In fifth grade there should be special care to apply 
all the forms of correct language taught in the previ- 
ous grades. 

So important is this application that advanced 



l60 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

language work could better be neglected than this 
faithful review overlooked. 

As a means of directing attention to this review 
and application of previous lessons, the first two or 
three months of fifth grade might well be given to 
such review drills. 

This insistence upon correct usage applies also to 
the varied forms of oral work in fifth grade, such 
as the oral narratives in history, the reproductions of 
geography, the reports on nature study, and to all 
other forms of recitation work as well as to any 
written papers and examinations. In all these, 
perpetual attention to correct forms is necessary. 

I . Composition. 

At this age the compositions should begin to show 
some degree of skill in the full, accurate, and apt 
expression of thought. The topics upon which 
children are asked to write should be selected with 
a view to the knowledge and preferences of the 
children. Biography, travel, and lively story appeal 
to many, while nature study, machines, and inven- 
tions may interest others. 

The full outlines furnished by the history stories 
and geographical types furnish an excellent basis for 
a part of the compositions. 



COURSE OF STUDY l6l 

For example of this see chapter of Illustrative 
Lessons. 

Exercise care in spelling, capitals, and punctua- 
tion. 

2. Spelling exercises may be derived from 
(a) mistakes in the composition papers ; 

(fr) difficult and new words in reading and other 
lessons ; 

(c) reviews of earlier lessons on homonyms, con- 
tractions, abbreviations, and rules for plurals. 

3. The paraphrasing of familiar stories and poems 
from memory provides a lively kind of board or seat 
work in which faults in language and composition 
can be quickly corrected. Give freedom of expres- 
sion. Criticise the work in class and compare with 
the original in thought and language. 

4. Business Letters and Social Forms. 
Standard forms of letters should be mastered. 
Letters of invitation and declination as usually 

given in the language books. 

Bills and receipts, inspection of customary bills 
and business papers. Write out the forms. 

In all these forms require accuracy and neatness. 

5. Inspection of punctuation as found in the 
readers and other text-books. 

M 



1 62 



SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



Develop and illustrate the chief rules for the 
use of capitals, commas, apostrophes, and quotation 
marks. 

Give dictation exercises to test the use of these 
markings. 

Punctuate poems and prose passages taken from 
authors and then compare with the original. 

6. Irregular Verbs. 

Review the full table of irregular verbs and their 
parts. 

Make a special study of the harder verbs ; as, lie 
and lay, sit and set,; to be, do, fly, get ; and the 
auxiliaries, shall and will, may and can. 

Make many sentences to illustrate and confirm 
these various uses. 

7. Homonyms and Synonyms. 



cellar — seller 
creak — creek 
lesson — lessen 



chews — choose 
hose — hoes 
mail — male 



pedal — peddle plain — plane 



colonel — kernel 
in — inn 
night — knight 
alter — altar 



all — awl 
fir — fur 



aloud — allowed been — bin 



soul — sole 



tacks — tax 



Give various dictation and drill exercises for the 
spelling, meaning, and use of these words. 



COURSE OF STUDY 1 63 

8. Abbreviates. 

Acct., Hon., Gov., Pres., Co., Jr., Sr., M.D., Prof., 
Supt, Maj., Sen., Rep., Messrs. 

Review earlier abbreviations. 

Review contractions and illustrate their use in 
sentences and in conversation. 

9. Correction of errors heard out of school. 
These to be reported and discussed in class. 
Opportunity to review earlier lessons. 

10. Use of the Dictionary. 

Regular exercises in dictionary interpretations. 

Words for these lessons derived from other studies ; 
as, reading, geography, history, and science. 

Review of dictionary markings for pronunciation 
and accent. 

Drills upon vowel and consonant sounds. 

Lists of prefixes and suffixes and their meaning. 

Root-words and derived words illustrated. 

Children, after a few of these lessons, should begin 
to use small dictionaries as reference for self-help in 
reading and other studies. 

Sixth Grade 

1 . Independent Use of the Dictionary. 

Regular use of the dictionary with assignments 



164 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

for dictionary study in reading and language lessons. 
How to use the dictionary appendix. 

Careful review of phonics and drill in the correct 
use of sounds. Diacritical marks. 

Syllabification and accent of words. 

Teach the use of cyclopaedias and other reference 
books. Introducing children to an easy and intelli- 
gent use of reference books is one of the most im- 
portant points in cultivating proper habits of study. 
Even the supplementary readers in history, geog- 
raphy, and nature study will be used more wisely after 
thoughtful and suggestive pointers by the teacher. 

Even a small library of reference books may be 
made of great value to children, if they are taught 
to use them properly. * 

2. Spelling. 

The problem of spelling should be attacked from 
several sides and systematically. 

(a) Lists of new and difficult words should be care- 
fully selected from the usual lessons in other studies 
and used for oral and written drills. 

(b) In composition work of all kinds the dic- 
tionary should be used for doubtful words. 

(c) The simple rules for spelling classes of words 
should be developed from full lists of examples. 



COURSE OF STUDY 1 65 

Formation of the plurals of nouns. 
Words ending in/, /, and s. 

Monosyllables and words accented on the last 
syllable. 

Words ending in e. 

3. Derivatives of words used in reading, arithmetic, 
and other studies. 

Common root-words and their derivatives grouped ; 
as, come, become, income, coming, comely ; thought, 
thoughtful, thoughtless, bethought; see, seeing, un- 
seen, foresee, seer, see-saw. 

Notice prefixes and suffixes in forming derivatives. 

4. Composition. 

Instruction in outlining subjects. 

Illustrate with new topics from general lessons 
and subjects of special interest, which are outlined 
before the class. 

Criticise also in class outlines made by the chil- 
dren. 

Base compositions on 

(a) reference topics in geography and history; 

(b) reports on the lives of authors whose works 
are studied in the reading lessons ; 

(c) debates in which arguments are presented on 
both sides; 



1 66 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

(d) topics in which individuals show a strong 
interest ; as in science, music, mechanics, etc. 

5. Letters and Correspondence based upon 

(a) descriptions of travel and historical scenes ; 

(b) visits to places of interest ; as, museums, parks, 
churches, public buildings ; 

(c) home letters to parents and others ; 

id) business letters, telegrams, advertisements, etc. 

6. Correction of prevailing incorrect speech. 
Avoid common absurdities and extravagances; as, 
how for zvhat, if for whether, and the frequent 
use of awful, dreadful, perfectly charming, immense. 

Discuss freely the use of slang. Like swearing 
it shows overemphasis and weak thought. 

7. Use of abbreviations. 

C.O.D., D.D., Atty., N.B., via, vol., inst, Cr., viz. 
Review earlier abbreviations. 

Study list of abbreviations in the appendix of 
the dictionary. 

8. Homonyms, synonyms, and antonyms. Make 
lists from the regular studies as they arise. 

Use the dictionary freely in tracing up synonyms 
and antonyms. 

9. Drill exercises in punctuation. 

(a) Gather up the chief rules for punctuation. 



COURSE OF STUDY 167 

(b) Copying from memory of songs, poems, hymns, 
and proverbs with proper punctuation. 

(c) Dictation exercises as tests of spelling, capitals, 
and markings. 

Seventh Grade 

1. Analysis of Sentences. 

The sentence as the unit of thought. 

Chief elements of thought in the sentence. 

Subject, predicate, and modifiers. 

Many illustrations examined. 

Adjective and adverbial modifiers. 

Extension of adjectives and adverbs into phrases 
and clauses, modifying nouns or verbs. 

The chief kinds of simple sentence. 

The complex sentence and its elements. 

The compound sentence and its parts. 

Free use of the parts of speech without formal 
definition. 

2. History of the English language in its chief 
periods of development ; the different sources of its 
words. Chief peoples who have contributed to it, 
with illustrations of their share in forming it ; as, 
Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Normans, Latins. 

Difference between English and Latin or Ger- 
man in the inflections. 



1 68 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

3. Peculiarities of English spelling. 
Spelling of Latin words ; Greek words. 
Silent letters in English. 

Classes of peculiar spellings in English. Drills 
on special lists ; as in ei and z>, and ough. 

The reform of English spelling and reasons for 
it ; as in programme, thorough, through. 

4. Compositions based on 

{a) lives of authors; as, Irving, Whittier, Lowell, 
Macaulay, Bryant, Scott, Hawthorne ; the stories 
of the origin of important prose works and poems ; 
as, " Hiawatha," " Evangeline," " Snow-Bound," 
the "Iliad" and " Odyssey," "Siegfried," "King 
Arthur " ; 

(J?) topics on the history of English ; 

(c) general lessons discussed for the whole 
school ; 

(d) imaginative stories in imitation of stories 
read; 

(e) side-lights on history and geography; 
(/) special science reports. 

5. Spelling reviews. 

Review and extension of the rules of spelling. 
Review tables of homonyms. 
Peculiar groups of English spellings. 



COURSE OF STUDY 1 69 

Words derived from other studies and readings. 

6. Phonics. 

A careful drill in phonic sounds is needed in 
the grammar school, {a) single and concert drill on 
vowels, diphthongs, and consonants with many 
illustrations; (b) drills on lists of words often mis- 
pronounced. 

7. Use of larger dictionaries and reference books. 
The unabridged dictionary should be employed for 

reference in grammar grades, including the appen- 
dix. The cyclopaedias also of biography and of 
general reference should be made familiar by use. 
Children should learn how to cull important points 
from longer articles. 

Supplementary reference books in science, geog- 
raphy, literature and history, biography and travel, 
should be used, discussed, and referred to by the 
teacher for supplementary and home reading. The 
language lessons should make children intelligent 
and interested in the use of reference materials. 
Much of this must be done also in the other 
studies. 

8. Review of common errors in spoken English. 
Discussion of classes of errors in earlier lessons. 
Illustration of the various ways in which gram- 



170 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

mar aids correct speech; as in the use of irregular 
verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs. 

Common errors heard out of school discussed in 
class. 

The meaning of vulgarisms and slang and their 
origin. Reasonable discussion of slang and why 
it should be avoided. While some slang is expres- 
sive, the ordinary use of it shows weakness in 
thought and deficient power of expression. 

9. Continue drill upon the pronunciation of lists of 
words commonly mispronounced ; as, apparatus, data. 

10. Rhetorical figures and terms. 

Incidental attention to the rhetorical figures used 
by good writers; as, simile and metaphor. 
Continuation of memory quotations. 

Eighth Grade 

1. Etymology. 

The parts of speech are familiar by name and 
use as explained in the discussion and illustration 
of the parts of the sentence — subject, predicate, 
modifiers, and connective words. 

(a) The eight parts of speech are now taken up 
as objects of study, illustrated, defined, and grouped 
in their chief classes. 



COURSE OF STUDY I/I 

The inflections and conjugations are also worked 
out in their chief forms. 

Many of the lesser traditional classifications and 
inflections are of little value and should be 
omitted. 

(b) The service of the chief classes, rules, and 
inflections for determining correct usage should be 
fully exploited in this fuller discussion of pro- 
nouns, verbs, and other parts of speech. 

2. Composition. 

A complete treatment of composition in the last 
year of the grammar school should make letter-writ- 
ing and written expression of thought in all subjects 
fluent and correct. 

(a) Study of examples of the chief forms of 
composition by good writers ; as, narration, descrip- 
tion, and argument, illustrated by the writings of 
Scott, Hawthorne, Webster, Dickens, and others. 

(&) Paraphrasing of poems and stories from 
memory. 

{c) Review of earlier studies in outlining the chief 
units of thought in an essay. 

(d) Simplicity and clearness in writing. 

(e) Figures of speech and their value as illustrated 
by good authors. 



172 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

(/) The use of sources and reference books in 
preparing compositions. 

(g) Errors to be avoided in composition, confusion 
of topics, ambiguity, stilted language, extravagance, 
foreign phrases. 

(Ji) Original compositions upon self-chosen topics. 

3. Reviews and summaries. 

{a) Study of synomyms and homonyms. 

Review previous lists and add, such as : bail — 
bale ; barren — baron ; breach — breech ; cannon — 
canon; canvas — canvass; cede — seed; chaste — 
chased; chord — cord; claws — clause; cousin — 
cozen; kill — kiln; maze — maize; martial — marshal; 
mean — mien. 

Review the complete list of homonyms with mean- 
ings and spellings. 

(U) Irregular verbs. 

Review the list of irregular verbs and the viola- 
tions of correct usage. 

{c) Pronouns and their use. 

(d) Review rules for spelling and punctuation. 

4. Study and analysis of English classics to dis- 
cover the plan, outline of thought, choice of words, 
peculiar points of style, use of figures, and sentence 
construction. 



COURSE OF STUDY 1 73 

5. Fuller study of the biographies of leading 
English and American writers and reports upon 
them. Acquaintance with the best books dealing 
with authors. The leading periods of American 
literature with their groups of authors. 



CHAPTER IX 



Reference Materials 



LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS 



Words in the list 


which are marked with 


an r have also the 


regular forms. 






PRESENT 


PAST 


PAST PARTICIPLE 


abide 


abode 


abode 


am or be 


was 


been 


awake, r 


awoke 


awaked 


bear 


bore 


borne or born 


beat 


beat 


beaten, beat 


begin 


began 


begun 


bend, r 


bent 


bent 


beseech 


besought 


besought 


bet 


bet 


bet 


bid 


bid, bade 


bidden, bid 


bind 


bound 


bound 


bite 


bit 


bitten, bit 


bleed 


bled 


bled 


blow 


blew 


blown 


break 


broke 


broken 


breed 


bred 

i74 


bred 



REFERENCE MATERIALS 



175 



PRESENT 


PAST 


PAST PARTICIPLE 


bring 


brought 


brought 


build, r 


built 


built 


burn, r 


burnt 


burnt 


burst 


burst 


burst 


buy- 


bought 


bought 


cast 


cast 


cast 


catch 


caught 


caught 


chide 


chid 


chidden, chid 


choose 


chose 


chosen 


cleave (adhere), 


r clave 


cleaved 


cleave (split) 


clove, cleft 


cloven, cleft 


cling 


clung 


clung 


clothe, r 


clad 


clad 


come 


came 


come 


cost 


cost 


cost 


creep 


crept 


crept 


crow, r 


crew 


crowed 


cut 


cut 


cut 


dare * (venture), 


r durst 


dared 


deal 


dealt 


dealt 


dig, r 


dug 


dug 


do 


did 


done 


draw 


drew 


drawn 


dream, r 


dreamt 


dreamt 


* 


Dare, to challenge, 


is regular. 



176 



SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



PRESENT 


PAST 


PAST PARTICIPLE 


drink 


drank 


drank, drunk 


drive 


drove 


driven 


dwell, r 


dwelt 


dwelt 


eat 


ate, eat 


eaten 


fall 


fell 


fallen 


feed 


fed 


fed 


feel 


felt 


felt 


fight 


fought 


fought 


find 


found 


found 


flee 


fled 


fled 


fling 


flung 


flung 


fly 


flew 


flown 


forsake 


forsook 


forsaken 


freeze 


froze 


frozen 


freight, r 


freighted 


fraught 


get 


got 


got, gotten 


gild, r 


gilt 


gilt 


gird, r 


girt 


girt 


give 


gave 


given 


go 


went 


gone 


grave, r 


graved 


graven 


grind 


ground 


ground 


grow 


grew 


grown 


hang, r 


hung 


hung 



REFERENCE MATERIALS 



177 



PRESENT 


PAST 


PAST PARTICIPLE 


have 


had 


had 


hear 


heard 


heard 


heave 


heaved, hove 


heaved 


hew, r 


hewed 


hewn 


hide 


hid 


hidden, hid 


hit 


hit 


hit 


hold 


held 


held 


hurt 


hurt 


hurt 


keep 


kept 


kept 


kneel, r 


knelt 


knelt 


knit, r 


knit 


knit 


know 


knew 


known 


lade, r 


laded 


laden 


lay 


laid 


laid 


lead 


led 


led 


lean 


leaned (leant) 


leaned (leant) 


leap, r 


leapt 


leapt 


learn, r 


learnt 


learnt 


leave 


left 


left 


lend 


lent 


lent 


let 


let 


let 


lie (incline) 


lay 


lain 


light (shine, illu- 


lit 


lit 


minate), r 






N 







1 7 8 



SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



PRESENT 


PAST 


PAST PARTICIPLE 


light (descend), r 


lit 


lit 


lose 


lost 


lost 


make 


made 


made 


mean 


meant 


meant 


meet 


met 


met 


mow, r 


mowed 


mown 


need 


needed, need 


needed 


pay 


paid 


paid 


pen (enclose) 


penned (pent) 


penned (pent) 


plead, r 


plead (pro- 
nounced pled) 


plead 


put 


put 


put 


quit, r 


quit 


quit 


read 


read 


read 


reave, r 


reft 


reft 


rend 


rent 


rent 


rid 


rid 


rid 


ride 


rode 


ridden 


ring 


rang, rung 


rung 


rise 


rose 


risen 


rive, r 


rived 


riven 


run 


ran 


run 


say- 


said 


said 


see 


saw 


seen 



REFERENCE MATERIALS 



179 



PRESENT 


PAST 


PAST PARTICIPLE 


seek 


sought 


sought 


seethe 


seethed (sod) 


seethed (sodden) 


sell 


sold 


sold 


send 


sent 


sent 


set 


set 


set 


sew, r 


sewed 


sewn 


shape 


shaped 


shaped (shapen) 


shave 


shaved 


shaved (shaven) 


shear, r 


shore 


shorn 


shed 


shed 


shed 


shine 


shone (shined) 


shone (shined) 


shoe 


shod 


shod 


shoot 


shot 


shot 


show- 


showed 


shown, showed 


shrink 


shrunk, shrank 


shrunk, shrunken 


shut 


shut 


shut 


sing 


sang, sung 


sung 


sink 


sunk, sank 


sunk 


sit 


sat 


sat 


slay- 


slew 


slain 


sleep 


slept 


slept 


slide, r 


slid 


slidden, slid 


sling 


slung 


slung 


slink 


slunk 


slunk 



i8o 



SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



PRESENT 


PAST 


PAST PARTICIPLE 


slit, r 


slit 


slit 


smell, r 


smelt 


smelt 


smite 


smote 


smitten 


sow (scatter), r 


sowed 


sown 


speak 


spoke 


spoken 


speed 


sped 


sped 


spell, r 


spelt 


spelt 


spend 


spent 


spent 


spill, r 


spilt 


spilt 


spin 


spun 


spun 


spit 


spit 


spit 


split 


split 


split 


spread 


spread 


spread 


spring 


sprang, sprung 


sprung 


stand, 


stood 


stood 


stave, r 


stove 


stove 


steal 


stole 


stolen 


stick 


stuck 


stuck 


sting 


stung 


stung 


stride 


strode, strid 


stridden, strid 


strike 


struck 


struck, stricken 


string 


strung 


strung 


strive 


strove 


striven 


strow, r 


strowed 


strown 



REFERENCE MATERIALS 



181 



PRESENT 


PAST 


PAST PARTICIPLE 


swear 


swore 


sworn 


sweat, r 


sweat 


sweat 


sweep 


swept 


swept 


swell, r 


swelled 


swollen 


swim 


swam, swum 


swum 


swing 


swung 


swung 


take 


took 


taken 


teach 


taught 


taught 


tear 


tore 


torn 


tell 


told 


told 


think 


thought 


thought 


thrive, r 


throve 


thriven 


throw 


threw 


thrown 


thrust 


thrust 


thrust 


tread 


trod 


trodden, trod 


wear 


wore 


worn 


weave 


wove 


woven, wove 


weep 


wept 


wept 


wet, r 


wet 


wet 


whet, r 


whet 


whetted 


win 


won 


won 


wind 


wound 


wound 


work, r 


wrought 


wrought 


wring 


wrung 


wrung 


write 


wrote 


written, writ 



182 



SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



HOMONYMS 

The following lists of homonyms and abbreviations are taken 
from Chancellor's Graded City Speller (The Macmillan Co.). 

Exactly pronounced, these associated words are not in every 
instance true homonyms. 



air 


ere 


bough 


bow 


e'er 


heir 


brake 


break 


aisle 


isle 


buy- 


by 


all 


awl 


caster 


castor 


altar 


alter 


cause 


caws 


arc 


ark 


ceiling 


sealing 


ate 


eight 


cell 


sell 


bail 


bale 


cellar 


seller 


ball 


bawl 


cite 


site 


bare 


bear 


sight 




base 


bass 


scent 


sent 


be 


bee 


cent 




beach 


beech 


choir 


quire 


beat 


beet 


climb 


clime 


beau 


bow 


coarse 


course 


been 


bin 


creak 


creek 


bell 


belle 


currant 


current 


berth 


birth 


dear 


deer 


blew 


blue 


dew 


due 


boar 


bore 


dye 


die 


board 


bored 


earn 


urn 



REFERENCE MATERIALS 



183 



eye 




him 


hymn 


ay 


aye 


hoes 


hose 


eyelet 


islet 


hole 


whole 


fair 


fare 


hour 


our 


false 


faults 


in 


inn 


feat 


feet 


jam 


jamb 


fir 


fur 


knead 


need 


flea 


flee 


knew 


new 


flew 


flue 


know 


no 


flour 


flower 


lain 


lane 


fore 


four 


lead 


led 


foul 


fowl 


lessen 


lesson 


gait 


gate 


loan 


lone 


grate 


great 


lute 


loot 


grease 


Greece 


made 


maid 


groan 


grown 


mail 


male 


guessed 


guest 


main 


mane 


hair 


hare 


mantel 


mantle 


hall 


haul 


meat 


mete 


hart 


heart 


meet 




heal 


heel 


medal 


meddle 


hear 


here 


might 


mite 


heard 


herd 


missed 


mist 


hew 


hue 


moan 


mown 


higher 


hire 


mourn 


morn 



1 84 



SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



muscle 


mussel 


rite 


write 


knot 


not 


rain 


rein 


nay 


neigh 


reign 




none 


nun 


rice 


rise 


oar 


ore 


ring 


wring 


o'er 




reck 


wreck 


ode 


owed 


rye 


wry 


one 


won 


road 


rowed 


pail 


pale 


rode 




pain 


pane 


rough 


ruff 


pause 


paws 


rose 


rows 


pair 


pear 


sail 


sale 


pare 




scene 


seen 


peace 


piece 


sea 


see 


peal 


peel 


seam 


seem 


plain 


plane 


sew 


sow 


plait 


plate 


so 




pore 


pour 


shone 


shown 


pray 


prey 


sighs 


size 


pride 


pried 


scull 


skull 


profit 


prophet 


slay 


sleigh 


quarts 


quartz 


soar 


sore 


read 


reed 


sole 


soul 


read 


red 


some 


sum 


right 


wrig 


son 


sun 



REFERENCE MATERIALS 



185 



stare 

steak 

steel 

straight 

tail 

the 

their 

throne 

threw 

to 

too 



Ai. 

abbr. 
acct. 
A.D. 

agt. 
A.B. 

A.M. 

Amer. 

amt. 

anon. 



stair 

stake 

steal 

strait 

tale 

thee 

there 

thrown 

through 

two 



vail 

vale 

vain 

vane 

wade 

waist 

wait 

way 

weak 

wood 

wooed 



veil 



vein 



weighed 

waste 

weight 

weigh 

week 

would 



ABBREVIATIONS 

first class asso. 

abbreviation asst. 
account bal. 

In the year of B.C. 
our Lord B.L. 

agent chap., ch 

Bachelor of Arts coll. 
Master of Arts, Co. 
before noon C.O.D 

America Col. 

amount Cr. 

anonymous do. 



association 

assistant 

balance 

before Christ 

bill of lading 

. chapter 
collect 

company, county 
cash on delivery 
Colonel 
credit, creditor 
ditto, the same 



1 86 



SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



D.C. 


District of Co- 


inv. 


invoice 




lumbia 


Jr. 


Junior 


D.D. 


Doctor of Divin- 


lat. 


latitude 




ity 


Lt., Lieut. Lieutenant 


Dr. 


Doctor, debt, 


LL.D. 


Doctor of Laws 




debtor 


long. 


longitude 


Ed. 


Editor, edition 


M. 


noon, thousand 


e.g. 


for example 


Maj. 


Major 


Esq. 


Esquire 


M.C. 


Member of Con- 


et. al. 


and others 




gress 


etc., &c. 


and so forth 


M.D. 


Doctor of Medi- 


F. Fahr. 


Fahrenheit 




cine 


f.o.b. 


free on board 


mdse. 


merchandise 


G.A.R. 


Grand Army of 


mem. 


memorandum 




the Republic 


Messrs. 


gentlemen 


Gen. 


General 


mfg. 


manufacturing 


Gov. 


Governor 


Nat. 


National 


hdkf. 


handkerchief 


N.B. 


take notice 


hist. 


history 


N.E. 


northeast, 


Hon. 


Honorable 




New England 


i.e. 


that is 


N.W. 


northwest 


ins. 


insurance 


O.K. 


all right 


in st. 


instant, present 


payt. 


payment 




month 


Ph.D. 


Doctor of Phi- 


int. 


interest 


V 


losophy 



REFERENCE MATERIALS 



I8 7 



pi. 

P.M. 

P.O. 

pop. 

pr. ct. 

Pres. 

Prin. 

Prof. 

prox. 

P.S. 

ques. 

reed. 

recpt. 

Rep. 

R.R. 

Rev. 

Rt. Rev 



plural 

afternoon, 

Postmaster 

Post-Office 

population 

per cent 

President 

Principal 

Professor 

next month 

postscript 

question 

received 

receipt 

Representative 

Railroad 

Reverend 

Right Reverend 



Ry. Railway 

Sec. Secretary 

Sen. Senator 

sing. singular 

Soc. Society 

Sr. Senior 

S.S. Sunday School 

Supt. Superintendent 

S.W. southwest 

Treas. Treasurer 

ult. last month 

V.P. Vice-President 

vol. volume 

W.C.T.U. Women's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union 

wt. weight 

Y.M.C.A.Young Men's 
Christian Association 



Jan. 

Feb. 

Mar. 

Apr. 

May 



Jan'u a ry 
Feb'ru a ry 
March 
A'pril 
May 



June June 



July Ju ly' 

Aug. Au'gust 

Sept. Sep tem'ber 

Oct. Oc to'ber 

Nov. No vem'ber 

Dec. De cem'ber 



i88 



SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 



Sun. 


Sun' day 


gi- 


gill 


ans. 


an'swer 


Mon. 


Mon'day 


pt. 


pint 


fig- 


fig'ure 


Tues. 


Tues' day 


qt. 


quart 


A.M. 


morn'ing 


Wed. 


Wednesday gal. 


gal' Ion 


P.M. 


aft'er noon 


Thurs.Thurs'day 


pk. 


peck 


St. 


street 


Fri. 


Fri' day 


bu. 


bush' el 


Ave. 


av'e nue 


Sat. 


Sat'ur day 


bbl. 


barrel 


No. 


num'ber 


sec. 


sec'ond 


lb. 


pound 


Mr. 


Mis'ter 


min. 


min'ute 


oz. 


ounce 


Mrs. 


Mis' tress 


hr. 


hour 


doz. 


doz' en 


(" 


Missis ") 


da. 


day 


in. 


inch 




SIGNS 


wk. 


week 


ft. 


feet 


$ 


dol'lar 


mo. 


month 


yd. 


yard 


t 


cent 


yr. 


year 


mi. 


mile 


# 


num'ber 



eer, 


ever 


ne'er, 


never 


I'm, 


I am 


I've, 


I have 


I'll, 


I will 


I'd, 


I would 


I'd, 


I had 


isn't, 


is not 



CONTRACTIONS 

aren't, are not 

wasn't, was not 

weren't, were not 

hasn't, has not 

haven't, have not 

hadn't, had not 

don't, do not 

doesn't, does not 



REFERENCE MATERIALS 



189 



didn't, 

we're, 

he's, 

there's, 

what's, 

won't, 



did not 
we are 
he is 
there is 
what is 
will not 



wouldn't, would not 

shouldn't, should not 

sha'n't, shall not 

I'll, I shall 



can't, 

'tis, 

he's, 

you're, 

you'll, 

it's, 

e'en, 

let's, 

that's, 

daren't, 



cannot 
it is 
he is 
you are 
you will 
it is 
even 
let us 
that is 
dare not 



USE OF CAPITALS 

Begin with a capital : — 

1. The first word of a sentence and of a line of 

poetry. 

2. Every proper noun and proper adjective; as, 

Boston, English. 

3. Every name or title of the Deity. 

4. Names of the months of the year and days of 
the week, but not the seasons unless personified. 

5. The chief words in the title of a book, poem, or 
essay; as, The King of the Golden River. 

6. Titles of respect; as, His Excellency the Gov- 
ernor of Illinois. 



I90 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

7. The first word in a direct quotation, except 
when it is only a part of a sentence. 

8. The pronoun / and the interjections O and Oh. 

RULES FOR SPELLING 

1. Final silent c is omitted before a suffix begin- 
ning with a vowel; as, ride> riding. But in the 
endings ce and ge, the e is retained before suffixes 
beginning with a, o, and u\ as, service, serviceable. 

There are a few exceptions; as, dyeing, shoeing, 
singei?ig. 

2. Final e is usually retained before a suffix begin- 
ning with a consonant; as, white, whiteness. There 
are a few exceptions ; as, wholly, truly, and judgment. 

3. Monosyllables and words accented on the last 
syllable ending in a single consonant preceded by a 
single vowel double the final consonant before a suffix 
beginning with a vowel ; as, running, forgetting. 

4. Words ending in a double consonant usually 
retain it on adding a suffix ; as, fell, felling. 

5. Words ending in a double consonant usually 
retain it in adding a prefix ; as, farewell. 

6. Final y preceded by a consonant is usually 
changed to i before all suffixes except those begin- 
ning with i; as, happy, happiness, carry, carrying. 



REFERENCE MATERIALS 191 

7. Final y preceded by a vowel is usually retained 
before a suffix; as, journey, journeying. 

PUNCTUATION MARKS 

i. The period is used after declarative and impera- 
tive sentences, and after abbreviations. 

2. The comma is used : — 

(a) After an address. 

(b) Before and after a direct quotation. 

(e) To separate parts of a series of words or 
phrases. 

(d) To set off appositives and some other modi- 

fiers. 

(e) To break up a sentence into parts. 

3. The semicolon is used to separate the parts of 
compound sentences where conjunctions are omitted, 
and to separate coordinate clauses which are them- 
selves broken up by commas. 

4. The colon is used where a list or enumeration 
is to follow, and in long compound and complex sen- 
tences whose lesser parts are separated by semi- 
colons. 

5. Quotation marks are used to enclose every 
direct quotation. 

6. The apostrophe is to show the omission of 



192 SPECIAL METHOD IN LANGUAGE 

letters in contractions, to mark the possessive of 
nouns and the plurals of letters and figures. 

BOOKS FOR TEACHERS 

A few of the best books for teachers who wish to 
study the problem of language teaching are given as 
follows : — 

The Teaching of English (Chubb). The Macmillan 
Company. 

A very excellent and comprehensive treatment of 
the whole subject of teaching English. 

The Teaching of English (Carpenter, Baker, and 
Scott). Longmans. 

A recent and valuable treatise on the teaching of 
English in elementary and secondary schools. 

The Teaching of the Language Arts (Hinsdale). 
D. Appleton & Co. 

Paragraph Writing (Scott and Denny). Allyn and 
Bacon. 

Talks on Writing English (Arlo Bates). Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co. First and second series. 

Elementary Composition (Webster). Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co. 

A First Book in Writing English (Lewis). The 
Macmillan Company. 



Methods in Elementary Education 

A SERIES OF EDUCATIONAL BOOKS IN TWO GROUPS COVERING THE 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF METHOD AND ITS SPECIAL 

APPLICATIONS TO THE COMMON SCHOOL 

By CHARLES A. McMURRY, Ph.D. 

Northern Illinois State Normal School, De Kalb, III. 



The Elements of General Method 

Based on the ideas of Herbart. New edition, revised and enlarged. Cloth. i2mo. 
331 pp. 90 cents net. (Postage 10 cents.) 

The Method of the Recitation 

New edition, revised and enlarged. Cloth. i2mo. 339 pp. 90 cents net. (Postage 10 
cents.) 

Special Method in the Reading of Complete English 
Classics in the Common Schools 

Cloth. i2mo. 254 pp. 75 cents net. (Postage 9 cents.) 

Special Method in Primary Reading and Oral Work with 
Stories 

Cloth. i2mo. 198 pp. 75 cents net. (Postage 8 cents.) 

Special Method in Geography 

New edition, revised and enlarged. Cloth. i2mo. 228 pp. 70 cents net. (Postage 
9 cents.) 

Special Method in History 

A complete outline of a course of study in history, for the grades below the high school. 
New edition, revised and enlarged. Cloth. i2mo. 291 pp. 75 cents net. (Postage 
9 cents.) 

Special Method in Elementary Science for the Common 
School 

Cloth. i2mo. 285 pp. 75 cents net. (Postage 10 cents.) 

Special Method in Arithmetic 

Cloth. i2mo. 200 pp. 

Type Studies from the Geography of the United States 

First Series 

Cloth. i2mo. 382 pp. 50 cents net. 

Excursions and Lessons in Home Geography 

Cloth. i2mo. 184 pp. 50 cents net. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



PIONEER HISTORY SERIES 

By CHARLES A. McMURRY 

Designed as a complete series of early history stories of the Eastern, 
Middle, and Western States, suitable as an introduction for 
children to American History. Illustrated and equipped with 
maps. 

Cloth i2mo 40 cents each 



Pioneers on Land and Sea 

The first of the three volumes deals with the chief ocean explorers, 
Columbus and Magellan, and with the pioneers of the Eastern States, 
Canada, and Mexico, such as Champlain, Smith, Hudson, De Leon, Cortes. 
These stories furnish the gateway through which the children of our Atlantic 
States should enter the fields of History. The attempt is to render these 
complete and interesting stories, making the experiences of pioneer life as 
graphic and real as possible. 

Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley 

Such men as La Salle, Boone, Robertson, George Rogers Clark, Lincoln, 
and Sevier supply a group of simple biographical stories which give the 
children a remarkably good introduction to History. Teachers are begin- 
ning to believe that children should begin with tales of their own home and 
of neighboring states, and then move outward from this centre. For eastern 
children these stories form a very suitable continuation to " Pioneers on 
Land and Sea," and vice versa. 

Pioneers of the Rocky Mountains and the West 

In some respects these western stories are more interesting and striking 
than those of the states farther east, because of their physical surroundings. 
Children of the Western or Mountain States should enjoy these stories first. 
The various exploring expeditions which opened up the routes across the 
plains and mountains are full of interesting and instructive incidents and 
of heroic enterprise. The chief figures in these stories are men of the most 
striking and admirable qualities, and the difficulties and dangers which they 
overcame place them among the heroes who will always attract and instruct 
American children. Incidentally, these narratives give the best of all intro- 
ductions to western geography. They are largely made up from source 
materials furnished by the explorers themselves. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 

BOSTON CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA 



JUN 



